The Guardian Father
by Lateral Ganon
Summary: A mysterious boy arrives on Altomare. He has searched far and wide for Ash Ketchum the Chosen One, to guard and guide him on his quest in the Water City. But what is this boy trying to hide? Slight AshxLatias . R&R Chapter 15 up.
1. Hitching A Wave

I have just had an awesome piece of inspiration for chapter 15, And I'll put it up as soon as I can. Hopefully I can get it finished before the Indigo effect wears off (see my profile for what that means).

# # # WARNING: # # #

This story is a rewrite of the movie Pokemon Heroes, therefore it will contain spoilers. None of them are spoilers about the end, because that's totally different from the movie. Contains mild swearing in later chapters. This story has been rated T to be safe.

# # # DISCLAIMER: # # #

I do not own Pokemon, but I do own the character portrayed in this story under the name of Ganon, as I own myself. I am the basis of some personality traits of the character, and as far as I am aware, it's fine to include the author as a character. I also own scenes and objects not in the original movie.

_Lateral Ganon._

# # # Chapter specific notes # # #

Kinaesthetic means practical, I think.

HUD is a heads up display. Like Samus Aran's visor to Metroid fans.

_Words in Italics are thoughts. Typically Ganon's._

'

* * *

**Chapter 1: Hitching A Wave**

It was sweltering hot that day, even by Altomare's standards. The temperature was topping 28 degrees, but it was perfect weather for the Tour de Altomare which was scheduled to start in ten minutes. Barely a cloud in the sky…

A Sneasel was clinging on a tall boy's back as he made his way though the crowds gathering on the bridge to watch as the race contenders were warming up. Sneasel was having particular discomfort in these conditions, being a Dark-Ice Pokemon, and was rapidly becoming very weak and frail on the boys shoulder.

"Sneasel, I told you that you staying out of your pokeball today would have been a bad idea." the boy chided. He knew that Sneasel wasn't listening, as he could feel the pokemon's claws losing their grip on his back. He sighed before bring out a pink parasol for Sneasel to use to shade herself.

He suddenly saw something on the floor under him. Dark Glasses. He realised that this would allow her to stay out of the pokeball indefinitely. He took the glasses from the floor, and offered them to her. The Sneasel was spellbound, and eagerly grabbed the glasses and knocked a Pidgey out of the air with a powered up Dark Pulse. It glared straight back at her, and suddenly evolved into a Pidgeotto. It swooped in, forcing her to fend the rogue bird away with the parasol. Ganon sighed as he grabbed the bird from mid-air, before looking into it's eyes and releasing it. It flew off as though nothing had happened.

"Sneasel, don't go picking fights when you look camper than a row of tents… pink tents at that…" the boy laughed. She was supposed to be strong. Having an interest in pink was not something that most sneasels would brag about.

Sneasel didn't take kindly to this comment, of course she wouldn't, she was a mean scary Dark type Pokemon, and responded by biting him in the shoulder. Of course this had the adverse affect of making him jolt suddenly, almost throwing her off into the canal after the Pidgeotto.

As the jolt of the bite spun him around, he saw the reason why he was here. He saw a deeply tanned man in an orange shirt cradling a Togepi in his arms standing by the leading edge of the bridge. This person he knew to be Brock, a Pokemon breeder, and more importantly, known to be travelling with the Legendary Ash Ketchum. From now on, the pair was treading on extremely thin ice, so to speak. He needed to integrate with the group into a trustworthy position, and Brock tended to be the most accepting.

He jostled his way through the crowds to stand just behind Brock to be able to speak to him. As he got near him, he heard the announcement informing spectators that the race would be beginning shortly.

'_Are you ready for the main event?'_ He heard, considering the irony. Of course he was ready. Everything he had set up was in place. Only a matter of minutes until the race began.

He looked to his counterpart in the starting block. The Ditto he'd fixed up to take his place was flexing his human joints behind Ash Ketchum pretty much like most of the other trainers were, and looked up to his trainer on the bridge before nodding. He'd let his Ditto race using a Quagsire that he'd maxed out the speed of with plenty of Carbos supplements. No-one on the testing committee would notice, as he had designed it himself. Totally undetectable. He wasn't intending to cheat in the race, he just needed the Pokemon to be fast enough to catch up with the leaders of the pack.

'_When you hear the Xatu, that will be your cue!'_ He smiled as the Natus and the Xatu counted down to mark the start of the race. He flipped down a single eyepiece.

'_Xatu!'_

The race was now under way, and so was the events that had set in motion. He knew that Latios and Latias couldn't keep away from this event. They loved any form of competition. He smirked slightly as he remembered.

He waited until the contestants had rounded the first corner before moving forward to talk to Brock.

_Gently, Gently._

"So then, you must be Brock." He said as casually as possible, hoping it wouldn't scare the man. No such luck. Brock practically jumped out of his skin as he was addressed. The stupor caused by his attempts to flirt with a girl that just pushed to the front next to him diffused immediately.

"Who are you?!" Brock stammered at him.

_Blimey! for the oldest male in their trio he sure is a scaredy cat_.

Brock eyed the person carefully; the boy who had just addressed him was 6 foot exactly with royal blue trousers and t-shirt. He wore a long white waistcoat which buttoned on the chest, leaving most of his shirt visible beneath it, although the sides dangled down past his waist. He wore blue fingerless gloves and a silk bandana around his forehead like a sweat band. His hair was pure silver and spiky, with the largest spikes at the sides of his head. Narrow glasses were perched on his nose. He appeared to have the intelligence of a renowned professor, even though he couldn't have been older than 17. The comical Sneasel poking its face over his shoulder just accented the intelligence.

"Me? Oh, I am a Pokemon conserver, trainer and breeder. I could also be classed as a master, but I spend most of my time as a kinaesthetic researcher" He put a lot of force into the word breeder; hopefully Brock would subconsciously pick up on that, "My name is Ganon, at your service."

"And a surname?" Brock asked, slightly intrigued by the boy. If he was a master, then Ash would love to meet him, and as a breeder, Brock could pick up some tips of his own.

"That's all you need to know." He said. He didn't have a surname. He was unique enough to be identified on that alone.

* * *

Brock was surprised when he realised he'd never heard of Ganon before. Usually when a trainer became a master, the asociated fame and glamour left them paralysed by the throng of fans around him. 

"If you're a master, how come I've never heard of you?" Brock asked him. If Ganon didn't have a convincing answer, then he'd abandon him immediately.

"The press don't really care for Masters that enter the field of research. It's the unfortunate fate of the intellectuals."

The story checked out. He could easily accept his word as of being a breeder based on the condition of the Sneasel. It was purring happily against his shoulder. A chorus of cheers around him broke his chain of thought.

At that moment, the main board showed Ash and Misty in the lead with Ross. Ganon pretended to cheer with the rest of them, but he was only interested by the small part of his Quagsire that could be seen in the corner.

Brock however was ecstatic about his friends being in the lead and pointing at the screen whilst bragging about his friends being out in front to the lady who was stood next to him. When he looked around at her, he noticed that the lady had wandered off with someone else and a very old woman had walked in instead. She saw Brock looking at her and tried to give him a kiss. He recoiled abruptly in sheer terror.

Ganon suddenly had more pressing concerns; Ash was in the lead, but Ross was closing in fast. Wailmers really packed a punch when they collided. He slipped his left glove off quickly, and swapped it for a glove coated in sensors. Brock thought he saw something on the back of his hand briefly, then dismissed it as he noticed a wire had been trailing across. Ganon held his hand straight up in front of him, looking as though he was doing a strange salute as he closed his fist.. The Quagsire moved forwards faster, and as the Ganon-Ditto entered the screen, it's eyes appeared strangely glazed over.

"Who are you doing, Ganon?"

"_And Ganon has taken the lead into the Vedan Bridge!"_

Both of them turned around to see a live picture from a Yanma-Cam showing what appeared to be Ganon in a pair of orange swim shorts. He silently swore under his breath. The lack of concentration meant that he'd made ditto accelerate too far forwards. He cringed as he saw his comparatively scrawny body. He really didn't want his body on parade. Especially the three sided birthmark on his naval.

"Hey, but if I'm talking to you, who's that on there?" Brock asked looking very confused. Not surprising.

"That one is my finest specimen of Ditto. It has intelligence to rival most of the common Pokemon, and..." He looked specifically to Brock, "superior to quite a few human trainers I've met, but now is not the time to talk about that, I need to concentrate. I fitted him with a chip that allows me to control him directly." He gestured to his hand and face with his free arm.

Ganon suddenly gasped. He had seen something behing him in the HUD.

The board showed the Ditto-Ganon in the lead suddenly doubling back after Ross and Misty had passed through a sharp corner. Ash was no where in sight.

Ganons arm suddenly made a series of bizzare movements next to Brock. He moved away slightly, think that Ganon was having a fit. He saw the concentration on Ganons face though and realised that he was doing something important. The sweat on his brow was clearly evident.

Ganon had thrown Ditto off the chariot when he got next to Ash. He had pulled Ash back onto his own chariot, and leapt out of the water onto his own too. He looked briefly up at the window that Ash would have crashed into, and smiled briefly, before shaking the Quagsires leash to continue racing.

* * *

Ash sped off with the Ditto-Ganon hot on his heels. Ganon turned off the glove. 

Ganon opened a small grey plastic device with two vertically stacked screens. He turned the device on and removed a stylus from the back of the machine. He searched through the menu with practiced ease, until he found the filters menu.

"Filter... Show enthalpy." Ganon whispered to himself as he tapped the option, suddenly rendering the eyepiece into shades of red and blue: Thermal Imaging.

"What is that thing, Ganon?" Brock asked, slightly worried. This device had never been seen before in any of the lands of Pokemon.

"It's a special device I got during my travels. I beleive it is the only one in the world."

Brock didn't question his assumption. The device looked bizarre to say the least. Two screens for goodness sake. Even the new Pokedexes weren't that crazy yet.

Even though Ganon was exceptionally talented in its use, nature always throws in something to ruin it. In this case it was that Latias suddenly grabbed Totodile's leash and dragged Ash and his chariot at breakneck speed. He hadn't anticipated the sheer size of the bow wave Ash made as he passed by, flipping the chariot in the water.

This shocked Ganon, but he was blessed with quick reactions and was just able to make out a warm red shape dragging along a small yellow Totodile, and a mostly pinky-red Ash. But never the less, he had spotted the Latias, and this was definately surprising. The temperature of a Lati was related to it's level of excitement, so she must have really enjoyed being here. He smiled as he saw her. It had been so long.

They could see Ross and Misty from the bridge now as they rounded the final corner. They were neck and neck as Ganon sensed something coming closer. Or more like someone.

_'Wait a minute, It looks like Ash Ketchum and his totodile were just shot out of a cannon!'_

He smiled as he saw Ash pelting around the corner with his Totodile running on the water. It raced through the two others, leaving chaos in it's wake as they both struggled to remain upright. They both hung on... barely.

_'And Ash has taken the lead, coming into the home stretch!'_

Ganon smiled as he noticed the Totodile was suddenly dragged of his feet. Now he could clearly see that Latias had grabbed Totodiles leash, granting him the original burst of speed, but now that Latios had grabbed her by the shoulders, he was dragging them along even faster. He knew that Latios's could exceed the speed of a jet, but he also knew that they were honour bound, and hated cheating in all forms, even if it was his own sister. He dragged her and Ash into a side canal, instantly disqualifying them.

_'Oh! Wrong turn Ash! And that's going to cost him the race.'_

Ganon watched the side street briefly, before he noticed that the race had finished. It was going to the judges. He watched the slow-mo as it appeared that Misty's corsola had just won. He took of the bandana, and stuffed it into the nylon backpack he had on underneath Sneasel. He saw his Ditto cross the line a few seconds later. He smirked as he saw it raising it's arms above it's head in a winning pose. He'd taught it that himself just to make sure it wasn't too obvious that it was an imposter.

* * *

Ganon was happy that Ditto had done his job, but he wasn't finished with it yet. 

"Brock, you seem like a good breeder to me, so I'll make a gift of my Ditto to you. How would you like that? Then you don't have to find the other gender of Pokemon in order to breed them."

"What? Wow! But why are you giving it to me?" Brock was unsure. He knew there was no such thing as free trained Pokemon. Ganon almost chuckled at him. Almost.

"You obviously spend a lot of effort learning about Pokemon breeding, so consider it a mark of friendship." …a bit of flattery got you everywhere these days. And failing that, bribery. They would both work with enough skill. And skill was his middle name. If he had a middle name that is...

Brock was elated at the prospect of being able to realise his dream of becoming a Pokemon breeder, so accepted without question.

"So, what happened to Ash?" Brock asked.

"I don't know Brock, I really don't know." Ganon lied.

* * *

Further insights into his character will appear as the story progresses into later chapters. As for the original ending of the movie, that ends up quite different due to this boys presence, so it can't be shrugged off by assuming you know the plot by seeing the movie. All I can tell you is, it has sent two grown ups crying when they beta-read it. Yes, really. 


	2. Going With The Flow

NOW UPDATED: I've made a key plot chage here, by adding a new intelligent character. That should make it interesting. He is also important in chapter 13-14.

This chapter was originally posted the day after the first. Whilst I have since posted considerably faster than that (three chapters in a weekend, sheesh.) I was still new. I really should practice what I preach to Ash.

Patience Ganon, Patience.

The same warning and disclaimers apply as in Chapter 1, namely, I don't own pokemon, but I do own the character Ganon.

Anyway, enjoy...Hopefully

_Lateral Ganon_

# # # Chapter specific notes # # #

_Words in Italics are Ganon's thoughts, and cannot be heard by anyone else._

* * *

**Chapter 2: Going With the Flow.**

Brock and Ganon went down to the café at the end of the bridge they were stood on, and waited for Ash and Misty to turn up. After all, they did say they would meet up there after the race. They had sat down at a table and were looking absently through the menu. Neither of them were hungry, but there was a sign that said no loitering. Twice a waiter had come down, and twice Ganon had been forced to buy cheap watered down Coca Colas. He grimaced as the foul broth reached his mouth. It tasted like old washing up water.

Sneasel has leapt off of Ganon's back and was skulking around under the tables, looking for things to eat or steal. She really wanted to sink her claws into a nice fish from the kitchens. She adored fish, and let nothing stand between her and it.

Brock saw Misty and a lean boy rushing up to them from the waters edge. She seemed very happy, but considering she had just won, it was no surprise. She was carrying a glass medallion the size of her face. They were both dripping wet, and Ganon scowled as some of the water from her hair dripped into it, just adding to the dubious mixture. He subtly moved the glass under the table, and tipped it onto the floor. When the froth had flowed away, he noticed the floor tile was now considerably cleaner. His eyebrows dissapeared into his hair in amazement.

"Hey Brock! Where's Ash?" Misty asked looking around. She wanted to rub Ash's nose in the fact that she had won. She really enjoyed a good gloat. She suddenly spotted Ganon and recognised him instantly. She had seen him (or she thought she had) before whilst racing.

"YOU!!! Why did you turn around before during the race?! You nearly made me crash into you! You tried to sabotage my race!" She yelled at him, pulling him up by the lapels and shaking him. Ganon didn't try to force her away, and laughed at her gently. He was not surprised by her sudden outrage, considering she was always overshadowed by her sisters, she would do anything to win. Almost. Brock just watched in shock, because when Misty gets in a rage, it's a primal instinct to run in the opposite direction very fast. Laughing at her was just a sure-fire way to end up upside down in a dustbin. She glowered at him and was about to throw him whe he answered.

"Then I suppose you didn't notice that Ash had just crashed into the wall behind you, and needed help."

Misty blanched. She hadn't noticed that Ash was in trouble, she was too focused on the race. She'd presumed that by the fact that he overtook her at very high speed that he'd been keeping up with them and put on a sprint on the home stretch. She released her hold on his lapels, smoothing the material nervously. Misty just mumbled under her breath,

"I didn't notice…"

"Well there's no shame in it, it was a very fierce competition, and you needed to keep your wits about you otherwise you wouldn't have won so spectacularly. Oh, where are my manners, my name is Ganon. And you must be the lady Misty. An honour to meet you."

He took her hand and bent down low to kiss it, and she flushed heavily. Not many boys actually took her seriously. She closed her eyes as she awaited a moment she had dreamed of. However a commotion in the café behind them caught his attention. He looked sidewards to see an array of cutlery flying through the air. Misty scowled as it had ruined the moment.

"Get your thieving claws out of my kitchen you little beast!" The chef shouted from the kitchen entrance.

Ganon saw his Sneasel running out of the shop carrying a big fish with a bite taken out of it.

"Ah, naturally. Wait here please, my Sneasel has got herself in trouble again." Ganon said as he walked into the café. "If you don't mind, I think it would be better not to chase her like that."

"What? Is that your Sneasel?" the rather large chef rounded on him with a cleaver in hand.

"Yes it is, and I would hope that you had the manners not to assault my Pokemon. But obviously, you are incapable of that. You still haven't answered the question."

"He's terrorized my kitchen staff…"

"Answer the question."

"Broken into my kitchen…"

"Sir you are trying my patience…"

"He has contaminated my entire food supply…"

Ganon strode over to the chef in long measured strides, before standing directly before him, his hands behind his back, and locked eyes with the chef. A cold fury emanated from their depths; blood red eyes penetrating straight through him as Ganon towered over him. The eyes said one thing. Don't annoy me.

"My Sneasel is a dark type, in case you hadn't noticed. Therefore she does not see the need to be bound by _your _laws. As for terrorizing your staff, get some new people which aren't terrified by an oversized mouse. It's pathetic. Judging by the quality here, or rather lack of it, they will be finding rodents everywhere. Now answer the question."

The chef looked at his feet shuffling uncomfortably and mumbled something under his breath.

"Sorry, I didn't understand that, I don't speak mumble."

Ganon grabbed the man by the shoulder, steering his face to look at him. There was something in Ganon's eyes, a faint ghost of something powerful was emanating from them. The chef suddenly thought he realised something. He now found himself beleiving that this boy was a member of higher management for the café. He shook himself profusely apologizing for his state of address.

"I'm so sorry I acted like that sir. It's the wife and kids sir, they believe that they are more important than the buisness. How crazy!"

Ganon scowled at him. He didn't like the idea that anything could be more important than family. He knew that more than most. That was disgusting. The chef took no notice.

"As for the fish, please take it as a sample of the exquisite culinary masterpieces." The chef said, smiling broadly at him. Ganon just smiled knowingly at him. He looked over to a sink that had a distinct brown tint, and a rusty pan sticking out of it. There was something grotesque floating in it, for which no words were horrible enough to describe.

_The Colas are washing up water you dolt. Or more like griming up water._

Ganon looked to his Sneasel, who was now staring at him with reverence and awe. Being a Dark type, Sneasel would never be able to use the power that Ganon had just exhibited. He smiled down at her gently and left the café with her following behind, greedily ravaging her new fish.

* * *

Ash Ketchum had just arrived from his unscheduled diversion when Ganon reappeared from the café. He was also still dripping wet, so clearly he either had to swim some parts to avoid the crowds, or Totodile was still hyperactive from the race… probably the latter as he would have dried off by now from the long walk. 

He was shocked to see Ganon with Brock and Misty, mostly because he wasn't expecting to meet his rescuer/helper, but also because he looked somewhat bizarre with a Sneasel ravaging a huge fish following behind him.

"Are you the…" Ash started to ask him, but Ganon cut him short. It seemed to be becoming a habit.

"No Ash, I only helped in your rescue in the race. Someone else saved you from crashing through the window."

"Who are you anyway?" Ash asked him. He wasn't going to start bringing a random stranger along with him. Ganon smiled and gestured to Brock.

"This boy is called Ganon. He says he's a conserver, trainer and breeder. He is also a master, but the press doesn't follow him because he went into the line of Pokemon research."

"He's a Master?!" Ash cried out, open mouthed with shock. He was finally meeting a real pokemon master. "How many pokemon have you seen?"

Ganon smirked and pulled out an exceptionally ornate Pokedex. He opened it, and showed it to Ash. As he read the total entry count his mouth dropped open, and he panted loudly in absolute amazement, as though the Pokedex was electrocuting him. On the Pokemon register, was at least 450 pokemon.

"I've been told theres only 384 Pokemon." Ash asked him. Ganon grinned smugly, and pulled a pokeball from his belt. He tossed it expertly into the air with a series of flourishes, and it landed in the courtyard. A Riolu leapt out of the ball, and brandished it's fists expertly. It raised it's arms in front of it, and held a fighting stance in front of the assembled group, smiling at them mysteriously. They also noticed it wore a black sash across it's chest, which was decorated with gold embroidery. Sneasel ducked behind Ganon's head as she saw it appear. It was Ganon's only Pokemon that could beat her in a fight. It nearly did the first time when he'd used her to catch it, but now that he'd trained it considerably, it could beat her in one hit. Dark pokemon were weak against pokemon and attacks of the fighting type.

"Awww! It's so cute!" Misty squealed when she saw it. The Riolu looked at Ganon quizzically, before he nodded to it. The Riolu smirked smugly in the same way as Ganon. He was going to enjoy this.

"Hold still Misty. If you move, it will hurt." Ganon told her as the Riolu flowed through a series of poses, jumping kicks, roundhouse punches and jabs all around Misty's form. None of the hits connected, but she could feel the air around her in turmoil at the small pokemon's flurries. Suddenly, she felt a weight on her shoulder, and a small blue arm was poking over her left shoulder, holding a blue tulip. She looked up at the pokemon, and smiled nervously, before accepting the flower. The pokemon jumped of her shoulder an landed on Ganon's about three metres away. The Sneasel cowered lower behind him as it glared at her.

"He's never given anyone a flower before. He must like you." Ganon said as he picked the Riolu off his shoulder, stroking it as he put him on the floor. It purred gently, and began to glow white.

"Whoa! Ash! Get you're Pokedex out, and you've got two brand new entries! He's evolving!" He called to him. Ash didn't waste a single second, and focused the scanner on the pokemon in front of him. He could see it growing, keeping pretty much exactly the same shape with the exception it's body was becoming more toned and agile. The energy surrounding it dissipitated and stood there was a Lucario. It looked a lot stronger, with steel knuckle-dusters growing from the back of it's hands, and a patch of fur on it's torso which resembled a judo vest. It looked very well suited to combat. Ganon looked around to see that quite a few people had stopped to watch the event, and had all joined together in a round of applause.

He smiled and bowed theatrically, rolling his arm as he bent down to the floor with it. He watched for a while as the Lucario performed some more acts with his martial arts, enjoying the crowds attention. He really was a show off. He even including a brief series of acrobatics where it appeared as though it never even touched the ground, flowing through the air so fluidly it was like quicksilver. Even Ganon was impressed now. Usually only a few pokemon were capable of Levitation, the two that immediately came to mind where the sole reason why he was here. He knew that Lucario wasn't actually levitating, but he still had to admit the illusion was perfect. The Lucario stopped jumping around, and stood next to Ganon, doing the same theatrical bow. Some members of the crowd laughed, and applauded all the harder. Ganon perked up suddenly as he noticed a redheaded girl in the crowd, but then realised it wasn't who he thought it was. He noticed that the Lucario had taken Ash's hat, and was walking around the ring of people with it. He smirked as almost everyone put some coins init. Ganon whistled as he saw the Lucario return with the hat brimful of money.

"Come on Lucario, you know we don't need charity!" Ganon said smirking at him. He knew that it could understand his speech perfectly, and was not surprised when he smiled back. He opened a small pouch on a sash the Lucario was wearing, and put the coins in it. "Well, back to buisness... how can I convince you that I'm a Master?" he said smirking at Ash, offering him his hat back. They all laughed. Ganon returned the Lucario, and Sneasel let out a relieved sigh. She sat on the floor, and started mucnhing on the fish again.

Misty decided to change the topic. She could see that Ash was bursting with questions for their new friend, but if they stopped now, they wouldn't get anything done.

"Hey guys, this is Ross, last years champion. He's a gondolier and has offered to give us a tour of Altomare if we…"

Ross stopped her there though when he noticed that the Sneasel was eating the fish.

"Ganon, you do know where your Sneasel got that fish from don't you?"

"Yeah, he got it at the café behind us. Why? Is it as dubious as their Cola?"

"Yes actually. That restaurant is not known for its hygiene, the food is typically at least a week out of date."

Sneasel practically turned green and spat out the bit of fish it was chewing and hurled the rest of the fish at the chef. The chef looked up at them, wiping fish guts off himself with a murderous expression on his face, before he noticed Ganon. He quickly smiled and waved at Ganon. He ignored the chef.

"We'd be delighted to go on your tour, Ross." Misty said

"And you can come too Ganon." Ash said, grabbing Ganon's hand a little too enthusiastically. Brock and Misty winced at his sudden motion, hoping that he didn't scare Ganon away. They were shocked when he smiled back at them.

"An enthusiastic trainer aren't you! Sure I'll come with you."

He'd been desperate to learn how to become a Master from the very best. And judging from the performance, this was the best of the best.

* * *

Ross showed them around Altomare, pointing out features such as a great chapel, and a series of ancestral homes of renowned families. Ash listened intently to all of this, for all the world a typical tourist. Ganon had told him that patience was a virtue, and that he'd help him whenever the need arose. Ash relaxed as Ross passed quickly over an area of shorefront terraces which had an abundance of attractive girls. Brock definitely picked up on this, but Misty was too entranced by Ross's Latin charms to cuff him around the ear. 

Ganon had been trailing his fingers in the water beside the boat when something bit him, and he pulled a Remoraid out of the water with his bare hands, much to the amazement of Misty. Remoraids were feisty creatures that were hard enough to pull out with a rod. He intricately measured and recorded it on his device, before throwing it back overboard. A Pelipper swooped in and snatched it out of the water, much to the disappointment of everyone. Ganon sighed as he deleted the record.

Sneasel was lounging on the front of the boat with Pikachu and Togepi, apparently asleep with a NeverMeltIce on her forehead to banish the heat of the day, whilst Lucario was sitting on the front edge of the passenger section, listening avidly to Ross, swinging it's legs. Ganon wasn't really particularly interested in the history of Altomare; it was too painful for him.

* * *

They soon paddled close to the museum, when Ross pointed out the symbols on Misty's new Medallion. She held it up to the light to watch the light refracting through the glass. 

"It's really nice! They sort of look like Pokemon." Misty said delighted. But suddenly she saw something out of the corner of her eye.

"Hey, there they are again, on top of those pillars."

Even Ganon woke up to look at what she was pointing at. There were two exquisitely chiselled stone pillars, ornately decorated with ancient icons and mystical symbols, but nestled on top amidst rolling waves of stone, were two granite effigies of Latios and Latias. Lucario's face instantly turned serious and he stared at Ganon. Their gazes locked before they looked back at the statues.

* * *

Well. A lot of new questions asked here. Who is this mysterious girl that Ganon was looking for? She'll reappear much later. The actual girl that is, not the random one that he saw just now. What is Ganon's mysterious power? Re-readers will already know, but it's a nice expansion of the first sighting of it last chapter. 

UPDATED: This chapter was my second shortest, so this one was well overdue for a revamp. It's now currently my third longest. Hopefully the addition of Rilou/ Lucario will be a nice touch. At least it adds a bit more depth to the character. I think the presence of Lucario will change things a bit now, being a fighting/steel type. But it means I'll have to rewrite the ending, I've still got two weeks, so I can do it.


	3. Open Water Beckons

UPDATED: This was my shortest chapter, at just over half my 2,000 words per chapter minimum. Now that I have enough story to work with, and more sneaky hints to incorporate, it should get better. I had almost finished this chapter when it said I needed to login again, I lost all the work, but I've redone it now.

The same Warnings and Disclaimer as before still applies, except now the following has been added to the disclaimer: I do not own Nintendo DS or any of the Pokemon Games.

_Lateral Ganon_

# # # Chapter Specific Notes # # #

_Italics mean Ganons thoughts again_

* * *

**Chapter 3: Open Water Beckons**

"Oh yeah. Those are known as the Guardians of Altomare. That's Latios on the left, and Latias on the right. Legend has it they watch over our town and protect us in case of danger." Ross said, putting his knowledge to good use. Lucario turned back to Ganon, and howled softly. Ganon looked down at him and stroked him behind the ear. The pokemon instantly relaxed, whilst Sneasel bristled at the sign of affection.

"Oh don't be like that. They're only statues." He said soothingly, but that was just for appearances.

_Don't do that again. We can't afford to raise any suspicions now._

Lucario looked back at Ganon and nodded, before looking back to the statue, now appearing much calmer. Ganon was glad that the acting training had not been in vain.

"Hey Ganon, why's Lucario scared of the pillars?" Ash asked him.

"Oh no! He's not scared of them. I have trained him to recognise legendary pokemon. And as the Latis are my personal favourite, I have taught him how to recognize them the best. Those two," He said, as he pointed at one pillar with his first finger and the other with his little finger. The remaining fingers were curled back into his palm. "were a pair that lived here."

"Were a pair?"

"Yes. Were a pair." Ganon said with a note of finality. No-one questioned him further as it was obvious he didn't want to talk about it. The Lucario continued to watch the statues. Ganon smiled again. The Lucario was acting perfectly. He called him over and handed him a strip of beef jerky. It smiled and chewed on it as he sat back on the front of the boat. Sneasel looked up and watched Lucario as he wolfed it down.

As they approached the pillars from the water, he could make out the symbols that adorned it. He quickly tried to translate the flowing script on the column base, but gave it up as it was undecipherable gibberish, he couldn't understand a single letter.

_Dang it! I can't read it in this form. I'll have to come back when I can translate it properly._

"Do they really exist?" Brock asked intrigued.

"They say they do."

* * *

Ganon zoned out of the conversation they were having, he couldn't really care less about the folklore surrounding them; he already knew them all. He called Sneasel over to him and absently scratched between her ears while he relaxed his mind to think about why he was here. He had so many secrets. Out of his collection, he chose now to focus on his miracle device. He refused to think about how he got it, he knew that all it would take is a Psychic person or Pokemon, and he'd be captured on the spot and taken away. 

He thought about his Sneasel which he had found being attacked by a group of hostile Makeys. He used some fragment of his own abilities to knock them all out, and swept the poor baby creature up into his arms. He ran with her to the nearest PokeCentre to get her healed. He waited until she had been completely healed and then went back to release her. She refused and continued to follow him around, looking up at him with constant adoration. He smiled and realised that she would never leave him, so he brought her along with his travels. Together, they had taken the Pokemon world by storm, along with his other Pokemon which he had alongside him by that time. She turned out to be his joint favorite alongside the Riolu. Together they could have been a perfect team, defeating every Pokemon they came across, but that was difficult. She was petrified of Riolu, which wasn't surprising considering he had a type adavantage over her. Then again, she could outmanoeuvre any pokemon he had ever come across before beside Riolu. He had taken to carrying her about with him when it wasn't too bright for the Pokemon as her keen senses to keep them out of danger… most of the time anyway. Riolu's abilities allowed them to get out of it when they were up to their necks in it though when she was being moody. He also enjoyed the company of another of his Pokemon, which was a Blissey, due to her ability to heal his others, but she was much too big to have following around. He chuckled softly that he had a Pokemon of the deepest selfishness and a Pokemon of the purest benevolence, almost ironic… As he thought of how his own history matched this duo of Pokemon. Dark and Light...

* * *

Ganon was rapidly brought back to attention when Lucario bit his hand gently to tell him that they had stopped on a street full of small cafés and other food outlets. Ganon couldn't believe he'd not paid any attention since the museum. Fortunately for him, no one else seemed to have noticed this lapse, as Brock was making him look wide awake and totally alert. he was drooling as he lay on the side of the boat, snoring loudly. Sneasel poked him in the nose, and he instantly woke up. He hurried out of the boat immediately. 

Sneasel immediately leapt onto the side and rubbed her face against the floor. She was glad to be back on dry land. Lucario just laughed at her, and walked around her as she scowled up at him. She hated water, she couldn't swim. Ganon smiled at the pair as he could sense an angry tension growing between them. He turned back to Ross and caught the last part of his sentance.

"That place over there has great seafood. And if you're still hungry there's an ice cream place around the corner." Ross told them just before he paddled off.

"Okay, ice-cream?"

Sneasel looked up at Brock with big puppy-dog eyes the second Brock mentioned the word ice-cream. Lucario wasn't all that fussed about ice-cream, and just yawned loudly. Sneasel looked around and scowled at him, before resuming her previous expression to Brock. She looked around again to see a steel spike a matter of inches away from her face, with a grinning Lucario on the other end of the arm. She paled slightly, although it was unnoticeable. If that had connected, she'd be out for the count for a long time.

"Well of course you want an ice-cream don't you Sneasel, those dark glasses won't have done anything about the heat," Ganon said to her, laughing at Lucario's joke.. "Okay guys, I'm paying."

And they ran up to the ice cream parlour. No-one except Lucario noticed that Pikachu had dissapeared down a side street towards a water fountain. He tugged on Ganon's arm gently and growled. He was ignored, so he went over to Sneasel, and after dragging her out from behind a seat she was using to hide from him, and whispered something into her ear. Her eyes widened as he finished.

* * *

"What are the orders?" Ganon asked them all. 

Ganon listened to them and then recited the order for the ice cream man,

"A coconut for Brock, pistachio for Misty, strawberry for Ash, and Sardine for my…Sneasel?"

Ganon saw the Sneasel leaving the shop and running full pelt back towards where they got off the boat.

"AARRGH!!! SNEASEL COME BACK!!" He shouted, slapping a 50 note on the counter, before running after her with Lucario following behind. The Lucario was beckoning to Ash as well.

Ash looked at him confused,before he noticed that his own Pokemon was missing too. He started running after her too, realising that she must have noticed something happened to Pikachu. Lucario let him pass through the doorway, and followed behind them.

They rounded the corner and instantly Ash was relieved. He saw Pikachu bathing himself under a tap being held on by a girl. She was a very cute girl of about 14, with a grass green polo shirt with a shirt white skirt on. Her shoulder-length brown hair was being blown slightly by a light breeze through the square, her soft curls brushing against her neck. Ganon noticed a more startling attribute to her however; she had radiant golden eyes, sweet and innocent. Lucario barked slightly, and hid behind Ganon, looking first at the girl, then at Ganon. He scowled back down at the dog clinging to him.

_Lucario. What are you thinking?! That's not the red-headed girl I told you about. _Lucario may have been his favorite besides the Latis and Sneasel, but that wouldn't save him if he blurted out something stupid. Ash however was too focused on Pikachu to notice.

"Pikachu, don't you want any ice-cream?"

"Pika, Pika!"

"Come on lets go."

The girl seemed to suddenly notice Ash and Ganon. She ran up to Ash, leaning in about an inch away from his face, making him feel very awkward before circling him, trying to look at him from all angles, before doing the same with Ganon. She found it strange that he was looking at her with the same amount of interest that she was looking at him.

Ash was not surprised anymore that Ganon didn't flinch, but the girl seemed to find Ganon rather… well… she couldn't put her finger on it, but it was something new, something wild and impossible. Something she liked. He smiled to her, and she smiled back. She was liking him more and more. She then looked around the Lucario, who desperately tried to hide behind Ganon. She was definately intrigued when she could hear some of it's thoughts in her own head. Being a part psychic was helpful when she wanted to talk to Pokemon like this. She could hear something that sounded like 'Why are you looking at me like that?' when a huge mental obstacle blocked her way from his mind. She reeled slightly from the magnitude of the force, and looked up at the trainer. He smiled at her again. and she smiled back wider at him. If he was a psychic too, she could have so much fun with him, she realised as she adopted a naughty smirk. But that would have to wait. She had been there too long, and she had other duties to perform. She ran back from the boys, and towards a street the other way. Ganon waved at her as she left. She wouldn't see it, but she didn't need to.

* * *

"She recognizes us, Ash." Was all Ganon said, before sitting down on a bench where Sneasel had sat down. She didn't like the way Ganon and the girl were looking at each other, and scowled at him. Lucario jeered at her, and she tried to swipe at him with her claws. Ganon stuck out an arm and caught the blow. A brief spark of energy shot off from the point of contact, but the skin underneath was undamged as though he had been wearing chain-mail. Ash didn't notice any of it, he was busy watching Pikachu bathe. 

"How can she? I've never even seen her before."

"Well, do you remember when I said that the credit for your rescue lies with someone else?"

"Ah, was she the girl you meant?"

"Yes."

Pikachu suddenly picked up his ears, and ran off the way the girl had done.

"Hey, Pikachu, where are you going?" Ash said as he ran after it.

Ganon just sighed, picked up Sneasel, and ambled along after them. It wasn't as though he needed to see Ash blabbering on for hours about how much he appreciated her help, but just to play it safe. He knew from experience that shady characters would often strike from behind when the victim was pre-occupied. In particular were the two girls he liked to call the Gruesome Twosome, which was a bit of a misnomer actually, as most people would consider them to be quite pretty. They were stylish at least. Ganon didn't see them that wy, he just saw them as the vile filth they were, unscrupulous mercenaries that would go through anything or anyone to accomplish their goals. Recently however, rumours had been circulating through the criminal underworld that they had been in the employ of Team Rocket for the past year.

A loud beep emanated in his pocket, then two beeps, then droning into a continuous whine.

_Proximity Sensor_. He opened the device immediately and studied the map displayed on it. Two dots had been higlighted in orange. They appeared to be next to each other in the middle of a canal, the tiny label barely legible, but still there.

_Annie and Oakley, the bounty hunters. Time to get reacquainted with the Gruesome Twosome. _Ganon thought as he shut the device with a snap, a determined look on his face. Sneasel looked at him smugly. She always relished a run.

* * *

UPDATED: Well, now this should be a bit longer and better. It's now only my second shortest chapter, although when I update chapter 4, it will become the shortest again at about 2,300 words. I've introduced the tension between Lucario and Sneasel, and hopefully, it's become obvious that the girl has a keen interest in Ganon. A note again, Ganon will not be stealing her away from Ash at any point in this story. 


	4. Shark Attack

UPDATED:

The usual disclaimers and warnings apply as they did in all the previous chapters.

Thanks to the two people who have reveiwed this so far. At least they have given me the inspiration to continue writing this, as I was beginning to consider scrapping it. So special thanks to Holiday Open and Pokemon-Princess.

_Lateral Ganon._

# # # Chapter Specific Notes # # #

_Ganon's thoughts are in Italics. _

* * *

**Chapter 4: Shark Attack**

Ganon shot out of the square faster than an Olympic athlete out of a starting block, closely followed by Sneasel. She shot a glance back at Lucario and laughed to herself when she noticed that he wasn't quite so fast. Lucario hated her cockiness, and decided to surprise her. He leapt up onto a wall, kneeling against the brickwork, but before he fell off, he leapt across the narrow corridor to the other side. He bounced between the two walls like a ninja, and smirked at her as he leapt over her head. She growled at him.

Ganon knew he had to protect the girl, at all costs. Although Ash had Pokemon of his own, none of them would stop an Espeon or an Ariados for more than a few moments. They were simply too well trained. And they had a nasty habit of attacking humans as well, making Ash at just as much risk as his Pokemon. Of course, the pair knew Ganon, so he would be a prime target himself, unless he managed to confuse them otherwise.

He caught up with Ash in a heartbeat. He wondered why Ganon had chosen to accompany him, but he heard a solitary thought cross his mind.

_The girl is in trouble, and we have to help her. Don't let the two theives get away with her._

They ran up the path at an incredible speed, Ganon having to leap over a toddler riding a tricycle. Immediately they came across the girl who appeared to have stopped on a bridge. Upon closer inspection, it turned out she was bound there by an Ariados. Two girls were sat in a boat nearby, apparantly gloating over the ease of her capture. Ganon could feel his blood boil as he heard them. That they saw this girl as just another creature to capture was dispicable. He decided to wait behind so that his impact would have maximum effect.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Ash shouted at them, as he began to rip off the silk restraining the girl. The two girls abruptly stopped laughing, and looked at this newcomer. He was definately scrawny and rather weak looking. They could easily take him down, they thought.

"We're just trying to prevent a fashion disaster." Annie retorted coolly. it wouldn't help for him to know all their plans. They were sensitive enough as it was, and the fewer people interfering, the better.

"Well, this is no way to do it."

"Oh, would you like to give her some tips instead" Oakley sneered as she lounged back in the seat of the boat.

"Yes, please do." Annie jeered. Sleeved jackets were soooo last century.

This enraged Ash like nothing else. He always considered himself to be a very snappy dresser. Even though his current outfit had been worn for four years without respite, he still thought it was cool. Evidently, it wasn't.

"I've got a tip for you, leave her alone."

"Oh I didn't know she had a bodyguard," Annie trembled in mock fear, "You're not going to hurt us, are you?"

Ganon decided this would be the most dramatic point to enter the scene, always the drama queen. Lucario strode in beside him, whilst he carried Sneasel on his back.

"What you really didn't know is that she has two bodyguards. He's unlikely to hurt you, but I certainly might." _Man I hope no-one was recording that_ He thought when he realised how corny he thought he sounded. But at least it had the desired effect. Oakley looked at him in shock briefly, then looked as though she was sucking a lemon. Annie just gritted her teeth at him

"Come now! That isn't the way to talk to an old friend!"

Oakley quickly leant forwards in the boat and began to yell at him.

"What are you doing here?! This is our turf, and no stupid kids are going to stop us this time."

"Well, I know exactly what you're here for, because I am trying to find exactly the same people. And I shall tell you now that it would be unwise to try anything whilst I'm here." He said, whilst shooting a sidewards glance at the girl that they had bound. She noticed his gaze, and cowered slightly, until she heard him talking to her again.

_Don't move. Just act calm and we'll get you out of here._

"Ganon, don't be stupid. We know you're bluffing. You can't possibly be after the same thing that we're after." Annie said as she lowered her sunglasses again. If Ganon was also after the Latis, she had to doublecheck that this girl was still Latias.

Annie screamed and looked up to a point far above Ganon's head. There was something immense where Ganon was stood, but it was invisible without the glasses. It was impossible. She could have sworn that she saw…

Ganon was not oblivious to what she was about to suggest, and just rolled his eyes.

"Annie, those sunglasses are broken."

"What makes you think that?" She yelled at him. She decided that shouting at the giant thing would make her less afraid of it.

Ganon pointed at the top button on his waistcoat.

"Because this button is made of selenium; a metal that emits regular pulses of quantum electricity which shorts out or significantly distorts electronic devices nearby."

Annie was very confused. She'd never heard of this metal, but surely the fact that the boy was speaking English to her was enough to disprove what she thought she saw. She looked back over at the girl they had bound, and saw that she was still definately not human. She looked closer at the button on Ganon's chest, and it was exactly the same shape as what she saw. Maybe he was right. He had outwitted them countless times before.

"Now, leave her alone." Ganon roared at the pair, hands balling into fists by his side, clearly displaying his mounting anger at these two pests. They really needed to get away from tehm before reinforcements arrived.

"Whatever would we do if he attacked us Annie?"

"Espeon, show Oakley what we would do."

Espeon then ran up to Ganon and struck him violently with a psybeam.

Or, at least it tried to… Ganon was still holding the Sneasel, so the beam was absorbed by her fur, negating all damage. But Ganon knew that the protection she was offering wouldn't last much longer. Whilst he was a Master, he never could get the gist of grooming Pokemon, and the quality of her fur was the key factor in determining how much psychic energy she could withstand. Currently, it was quite matted from all of her activities that morning, in particular, the fiasco with the fish. He had to react to their offensive before they could overpower them all. He braced his feet against the floor, and recalled Lucario. He'd spoil the illusion if he remained out. It all depended on Ganon's acting talent.

"Get her to safety, Ash. I can buy you some time."

"Ganon, what are you doing?"

"Just get out of here. Sneasel, Dark Pulse attack!"

The Sneasel leapt out of Ganon's arms and prepared to use the attack on the Espeon. Just before releasing the ball of dark matter at the Espeon, the Sneasel turned green again and keeled over. She was extremely ill, something was killing her.

"Oh no! She's having a rancid fish attack!" Ganon returned the Sneasel, knowing that the type advantage that he had was now well and truly deflated, before bellowing "CURSE YOU, YOU STUPID CHEF!"

Ash looked extremely embarrassed. He had hoped that he would have been able to subdue the girls. Ganon turned around slowly to look at him, wrestling with himself, trying to think of other ways he could stop the Rockets from taking her. With Sneasel knocked out, she could no longer shield them from attacks, and they were living on borrowed time. He was not uncomfortable with the prospect of his imminent self-sacrifice; it wasn't exactly a new concept for him. But it could get out of hand.

"I said run."

"You can't do this, there's got to be another way."

"Just go. There's nothing but defeat waiting for us here. As I am now, I can't defeat them."

"I can't let you do this."

"Trust me. Get out of h-AAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!"

The rockets had got a grip on themselves after their bout of hysterics upon the Sneasel's collapse, and upon noticing Ganon trying to help the girl to escape, Espeon had just used psychic on Ganon. They did not want to risk him trying to save them again. Ganon instantly collapsed to the ground, his eyes glazing over as he lay their motionless. To the untrained eye, he was dead. But the girl could hear him sniggering in his head. He seemed to find the attack funny, and she couldn't help but smile too. Ash looked at her briefly in revulsion.

* * *

"That was a dirty trick. All right, two can play at this game. Pikachu get him." 

Pikachu leapt off the bridge at the Espeon, who leapt onto the boat behind the girls. Pikachu then looked back at Ash trying to wake Ganon up.

Ash shook Ganon's shoulders on the floor like dice in a cup, desperate to revive him, before noticing that Ganon's limbs were limp and his eyes stared lifelessly out of their sockets. The colour had already started to drain out of his face. As far as Ash could tell, his friend was long gone.

* * *

However, he didn't notice the very slight movements of his chest. It was much too slow a movement to be noticed by Ash or the Rockets. Only the girl they were trying to rescue noticed, and she could have sworn that the boy on the ground had winked at her. She smiled again, getting another look of revulsion from Ash. Ash looked back to the Rocket agents shivering as pure rage surged within him, as he thought his best chance of masterdom had been stolen from him. He pointed an accusing finger at them. 

"You killed him. You son of a -"

Ganon suddenly leapt up off the floor, halfway through Ash's accusations.

"RUN."

Ash was amazed, but not as much as the Rockets, so he took this moment to retalliate. He wanted them to think he was a mean contendor too. It always helped to have a bit of a rapport, as was obvious from their reaction to Ganon.

"Pikachu, Thunderbolt them!"

The telltale sparks of an electric attack coming were unmistakeable as a great bolt of lightning arched from Pikachu straight onto the boat, frying the Espeon and the two Rockets. He then turned his attention to the Ariados that was trying to get back at them as they tried to escape. It shook from the force of the voltage coursing through him, paralyzed.

They ran as fast as they could with Ganon acting as a rear guard to keep an eye on the two Pokemon who would surely be sent after them when the girls recovered from their shocking departure.

He heard a splash and then Annie complaining about how her suit was ruined. Ganon smiled to himself when he remembered that she was frail and would have fallen over the side of the boat when Pikachu had fried them. _Typical Fashionista worried about clothes when more important things are at stake._

"Ganon, how did you…"

"Not now… Talk later." Ganon wouldn't commit more thought to speech than was necessary. They had to get away from the Pokemon sent after them. Espeon would lock in on his own psychic energy like a homing beacon.

* * *

Ganon absently worried about his Sneasel. He'd never let it faint before. They had shared every passing moment together when it was ideal for Sneasel to be out, and she often acted like his sentinel, able to warn him of impending dangers and immediate threats. Just that was enough to traumatise him. Without that comforting weight on his back, he felt as though he'd lost one of his limbs. He quickly pulled out a Pokeball, and released Lucario. It was good to have a friend with him to share the pain. Lucario bounded along besides Ganon, not having to be quite so fast. Ganon looked down at the fighting/steel type and smiled. He stopped the group and quickly bent down low to look the Lucario in the eye. 

_Lucario. At the next junction, turn left. We'll go right. Meet us back at the pokecentre in twenty minutes._

The Lucario nodded. He knew what Ganon was going to do. He held his paws out in front of him, and they began to glow a slight purple. He then ran ahead of the group, and dissappeared down the left street, whilst Ganon ran ahead and took them down the right path.

"Lucario's claws act as power reserves. The Espeon can track us down whilst I have such a high degree of psychic power, but now that I've stored the power in his claws, he will act as a decoy. He can easily escape the Espeon when it comes looking, but we should still keep running."

* * *

He noticed much later into the sprawling maze of the backstreets that Ash suddenly appeared very confused. 

"You're lost aren't you." Ganon said as he shut his device.

"No I'm not; I know exactly where we're going. Err… this way!"

"Then you know that one there is a dead end?"

"How did you..."

"Changing the topic quickly to disorientate the victim. Very good, you're learning quickly. I have trained my body to be able to mimic the basic attributes of death. The limp muscles are easy enough, but I have practiced enduring without blinking for long enough to dehydrate the eye. The movement of blood is usually accidental, but it is a side effect of the natural hormone adrenaline."

"No, I mean how did you know that way was a dead end?"

"Oh." Ganon looked away, embarrassed that his impatience had made him look stupid. It wasn't the first time. "My device has a local area map, and I just checked, but we're lost. Ash, how about we ask the girl to lead us, she is a... local and will know the streets a lot better than either of us."

"What's wrong with your map?"

"Well, its not really a map, it's more of a short range radar. It doesn't show the whole town."

Ganon approached the girl, who seemed to be quite interested in him approaching her. She absently brushed a lock of hair away from her face to try and make herself look more attractive. Ganon noticed and looked at her scornfully. Surely she wasn't that desperate. She looked at her feet.

"Excuse me m'lady, but can you show us the way back to the area with the water fountain where we met you?"

The girl grabbed Ash's hand and led them up a flight of stairs behind an old lady knitting on a bench next to a Vulpix. Ash was taken aback by this, because this girl seemed to know exactly where they were, even though she couldn't possibly have been able to keep track of the many twists and turns through the street. They rounded a corner through an archway and emerged onto a balcony which overlooked the square. Ganon smiled to her and nodded.

Ash looked over the edge to see Brock and Misty sat on a bench enjoying their ice creams, and he began to shout down asking where his ice-cream was. Brock pointed at Togepi, who had a very clear red patch around it's mouth, and was now munching on the waffle cone, much to Ash's dismay. He really liked waffle cones.

* * *

Ganon turned back to the girl, and approached her and took her hand in his own. He felt the shape of the hand, and then ran it up to her forearm. She shivered pleasantly at his touch, until he clicked his fingers in front of her face and she looked at them. He waved the hand left to right and up and down. 

"Mimicked the biology very well. Your mother must have taught you very well. Good reflexes, but you're warmer than resting temperature. Something is still exciting you..." he said before he looked back to her face, and he could clearly see the affection in her eyes. "Ah... It's me. Well. All in all, very healthy, and considerably powerful for a fledgling."

She stared at him with wide eyes. She recognized the term fledgling. It was a term used for young birds. He knew what she was? He could see the shock in her eyes and smiled.

"Don't worry. I won't tell anybody." He said as he whipped out a piece of paper, folded it in seconds into a small Pokemon, before handing it to her.

She stared at it, trying to make out what it was before he quickly smiled and bowed to her, turning away to stand next to Ash. The girl was utterly perplexed. She held the model up to the light, and suddenly it all made sense. The model he had given her was of a Latios. _How could he know? _She could sense there was something more to him than his humble exterior was showing_. He's hiding something. _She wanted to stay to try and find out more about who this boy was. But she had to flee immediately. The rockets could try to capture her again at any moment.

But there was only one thing that she thought about as she left. _He knew._ But why that comforted her, she didn't know. Probably the fact she could sense he cared for her despite her being a ...

Ganon felt slightly guilty as he heard her leave behind him. No-one else would hear it; no-one else _could_ hear it. He didn't know how she would react to him knowing what she was, but knowing that she was indeed gifting with some psychic ability, even at her young age, he was sure that she would have sensed he meant it with the best intentions in mind.

* * *

Ash turned around, intending to ask if she was alright, but was met only by empty space. Surely, he thought, he'd have heard her walk off. Ganon turned around, closing his fist on something around his neck briefly, then put his arm back to his side. Ash didn't notice the move as he was too busy looking for the girl. 

"Where'd she disappear to?"

Ganon didn't answer him. He just closed his eyes and sighed, before looking over at the two pillars jutting out above the roof line. He wiped away a tear forming in the corner of his eye, as he looked at the Latias statue perched above the waves.

* * *

Well. For once I've made a chapter that pretty much reaches my 2,000 words mark. Hopefully, I'll have the next two chapters up sometime next weekend. 

And anyone who thought I was going to kill off my main character, don't worry. He can't die... well, he can, but not from a meagre attack from an Espeon. I think in my next chapter is when the gloves come off (metaphorically speaking) , and quite a significant part of Ganon's psychology becomes revealed.

UPDATED: Well. I've added a few bits, namely Ganon's medical examination at the end, and the Lucario diversion. I also added the Annie/Oakley vs Ganon firefight banter. It seemed like a good idea to suggest they knew each other.


	5. Tooth and Claw

UPDATED: I have finally got another reveiw. Due to a major plot hole I discovered in my final chapter, I had to add the Lucario. I should have put this reason in on the first post but... meh.

Don't worry, I havn't abandoned this story yet! Either way. Enjoy

Usual discalimers and warnings apply.

_Lateral Ganon._

# # # Chapter specific notes # # #

_Italics are Ganons thoughts._

* * *

**Chapter 5: Tooth and Claw**

The group made their way back to the PokeCentre to get some rest from the morning's activities. It was only 11:30 in the morning, but already it felt much longer, considering how much had happened. _Race at 10:30, Tour by Ross at 10:45, Ice creams at 11:00, and chased by criminals until 11:20. All in all, a rather uneventful day. Except the tour, but I'm usually too busy._

Ash and Brock were in the next room along, planning what the group would do that afternoon, but Misty had become concerned that Ganon wasn't coming out from the next room to join them. She left the two boys to talk to Ganon, hoping that he was okay. As she entered the room, she noticed that he was still sat there like he had been since they arrived. Ganon wasn't paying any attention; he was crying about his Sneasel, haunted by the memory of the expression on her face as she collapsed from the poisoning. He was also worried about the outcome of his Lucario. If the Espeon found him, he wasn't actually so certain it would survive it. If those thugs caught him, he would regret it for the rest of his life. He was a one of a kind.

Misty seemed to notice his sadness and wanted to comfort him, but he continued to shoo her away. He found solace in his loneliness.

She remembered Ash's account of Ganon's insistence that they leave him behind to protect themselves. She had never heard of such a chivalrous act in anyone before. She decided it would be a good starting point for the conversation.

"Ganon, don't blame yourself. It wasn't …"

Even though she couldn't know it, these words stung deeper than any would he had ever suffered. He turned to look at her, a scowl of unimaginable rage on his face. This girl must have chosen those words just to annoy him. He hated people that deliberately provoked him. Then he saw the sadness in her own eyes, and saw that she meant it with the best intentions. It's a good job that anger translates to sorrow very easily and quickly.

"WHAT CAN YOU KNOW?!" He wailed at her. Losing the Sneasel and Lucario was almost like everything happening again. _My friends… My family… My darling… all lost. Nothing else mattered. My entire world… shattered…everything that I held dear, lost to me, just because I…_

At this Ganon broke down completely, sobbing hysterically, his head in his hands.

Misty simply didn't know how to react. She just patted him gently on the head. Here was the tough-boy Ganon, crying on her shoulder, presumably over his Sneasel. It went on like that for about five minutes, with no signs of his depression abating. A loud beep emanated from a metallic device in the corner of the room, and she looked at it briefly. It looked sort of like a metal Sandshrew facing away from her.

Ganon suddenly looked up at the device, then looked back towards the door. That beep meant that Lucario had just arrived at the Pokemon centre, and had just remotely restored Ganon's power. He walked over to the device, and gave it a tweak. Now the Espeon couldn't trace that branch of his power again. He suddenly felt something shift in the air outside the room, and walked back over to the door, and opened it. Stood there was Nurse Joy, with her hand raised to knock.

She blushed and walked into a room leading a bounding Sneasel behind her.

" How did you know I was there? I wore soft shoes so you wouldn't hear me."

"Natural instincts." Was all he said as he tapped his nose. She smiled sweetly at him, but was silently annoyed. She'd been trying to surprise Ganon all week. She'd never yet succeded.

"Anyway Ganon, your Sneasel is fully healed and ready to check out."

To Misty it seemed as though Ganon had just become a whole different person, throwing his arms wide as his Sneasel bounded up to him, picking her up and swinging her around with him before being brought close in a hug.

"Ooooh, I'm sorry I let you faint Sneasel, I should have been more careful. Next time though, please tell me if you're not feeling too well okay?" he said in overcaring baby talk before gently putting her down. She was scowling at him. She hated his baby talk, and he knew it. He ruffled the fur on her head gently and she purred.

Misty just sat there in a mixture of shock and embarressment. She also didn't like people that spoke baby talk.

"Excuse me Miss, but you look like you've just seen a ghost."

She jolted when Nurse Joy tapped her on the shoulder. She was too engrossed in her own thoughts to remember she was even in the room.

"What? Sorry Joy, I've just never seen someone so relieved for their Pokemon before."

"Oh that's alright then; you just looked a little pale." Nurse Joy curtsied before leaving the room. She paused quickly as a strange blue Pokemon she had never seen before walked past. It nodded up at her before walking past. She watched it stride through the room towards the back of the sofa. Ganon noticed the Pokemon's movement and smirked. This was going to be funny. Well, not so funny for Misty.

Ganon turned back to Misty. For a second she could have sworn she saw a smirk on his face, but she blinked and it was gone. She could only have imagined it.

"Misty, I'm sorry I yelled at you before. Can you forgive me?" Ganon said sounding extremely sincere, and Misty couldn't help but be charmed by him. She just looked straight back at him.

"Of course."

She jumped up suddenly as she felt something tap her shoulder. Lucario had jumped up onto the sofa, and was currently holding a little glass Togepi. He took her hand and put the ornament into it, before running up to Ganon. Ganon looked at the little Pokemon by his feet in a dignified manner, as it reached it's arm into the bag.

"She isn't the red-head either." He said. Lucario slapped himself over the head.

The Lucario nodded, and walked over to Ganon's bunk. He crashed into the pllar at the bottom, before eventually landing on the bed, and falling asleep instantly. Being a fighting type and infused with psychic energy had left him extremely disorientated. He'd need to rest for at least an hour.

* * *

Ash and Brock walked in and decided that they were going to visit the museum that Ross had pointed out that morning. 

Ash had reasoned that considering they were here as tourists, they may as well visit the hotspots. He also had the feeling that when the girl had disappeared, Ganon had been looking over towards the museum whilst he remained silent, and was certain that Ganon knew where the girl had gone, as he seemed to know her quite well. He was sure Ganon was hiding something important from him.

Brock had reasoned that as Ganon was a researcher, he would be able to point out interesting things about the museum itself that no other tourist would have learnt otherwise. Naturally, his ulterior motive was the proximity of the very attractive girls to the museum.

Ganon wasn't fooled by either of their ideas for motives, but smiled his thanks all the same. He winced as he heard Lucario suddenly snore loudly from his room in what sounded like a laugh. He walked back through and returned him to his Pokeball.

* * *

They all wandered through Altomare enjoying the sights and smells of the flooded streets. This was the first time Ganon had got to spend some time playing with Sneasel since he'd come to Altomare, usually, they had been stuck with some die hard fans that wanted a battle. He winced as he remembered one match where the trainer turned out to think that he was a pokemon, and walked into the battle himself. He was still in a coma. The Sneasel was a lot more energetic than before her visit to the PokeCentre, and was dashing about all over the place, playing with anything and everything. 

Ash's Pikachu seemed to find the Sneasel's new outlook infectious, and regularly joined in with her general playing about.

It seemed to be only a matter of minutes before they arrived in front of the Museum.

"It looks more like a palace than a museum." Ash gasped craning his head back to see the top of the cupola. Ganon was more annoyed by the sign on the doorway.

"_No Dark Types"_

Ganon apologized as he was forced to return the Sneasel and transferred her to a PC box using his device. They'd have scanned him and detected her, barring admission for the entire group. That just wouldn't be fair to any of them.

No-one noticed the Rockets camera watching them as they entered.

* * *

They all walked in awe through the main lobby, staring at the intricate works of art painted as a fresco on the ceiling, and Ganon recognised it as a history of Altomare since he had first… 

He looked to the floor; he didn't want to be reminded of that particular chapter of his life…

It was a good job he looked, as the group was just about to step on a fossil embedded in the floor. He threw out his arm to stop Ash and Misty, but his arm wasn't long enough to stop Brock.

"Hey is this a fossil of a Pokemon?" Ash suddenly said when he noticed Ganon had stopped him. Brock was the most problematic, as he had stopped on the tile itself, earning him a scorning glace from Misty. The curator seemed to suddenly notice them, and came over to give them the tour.

"You might say that. It's also a reminder of our past. These fossils are of Pokemon that once terrorised Altomare. They were taught by an incredibly evil trainer to attack people. One was an Aerodactyl, the other was a…"

"Kabutops?"

"That's right." The curator seemed glad that Misty could identify the other Pokemon, and immediately entered into conversation with most of the group.

Ganon kneeled down next to the fossil and gently caressed the forearm bone of the Aerodactyl.

"Ah, I see you didn't stand the test of time too well…" he mumbled absently to himself under his breath. "It seems like a lifetime ago since …"

"Don't touch it!" the curator shouted at him. He'd noticed that Ganon had been mumbling to himself, and looked down to see him _stroking _the fossil. Ganon turned to look at the curator with a hurt look, before straightening up.

"Sorry Sir."

The curator showed them through a series of other exhibits; such as ancient relics recovered from the sea floor by divers, and an ancient map of Altomare before the water arrived. That was when the town was called Terratra, which meant 'Landlocked' ironically. They also passed a small plaque depicting what appeared to be of an ancient god of the dead. It was humanoid with a dog's head. Ganon was getting more and more agitated by the pointless drivel. He already knew all of this, and was close to breaking point. _Better make a good excuse._

"Sorry guys, I've got to go now, I need some fresh air. I'll meet you back at the PokeCentre later."

And Ganon left them listening to the tour guide. Wandering about outside, he strolled behind the museum towards a beautiful canal he'd seen, and thought the bridge would be a perfect place to let Sneasel back out to chase birds. As he rested against the ledge of the bridge, he let Sneasel out, and watched her happily leaping around the place. He noticed a small spherical camera watching him, but he paid it no notice. The Gruesomes would get bored if he just continued to sit there.

* * *

"Everyone lived in fear until Latios brought water to the town; drowning the evil Pokemon, and turning our streets into canals. It was also when they built the DMA; the Defence Mechanism of Altomare. They wanted to make sure that no-one would ever disturb their peace again. Fortunately, they never had to use it." The curator continued. 

"Hold on, Ganon told me that it was impossible for water to defeat either of them. Aerodactyl would have just flown onto land, and apparently Kabutops have gills. He said something else must have finished them off." Brock interjected.

"You have a logical friend then, but no. The water was the cause of their defeat, and the cities salvation. Aerodactyl was said to have been gorged on prey and was too heavy for flight, and the sheer force of water crushed the Kabutops. Hence the slightly crushed state of the fossil."

Brock still wasn't convinced. The crushed state of the Kabutops looked more like heavy impact damage at a single point, but now he just couldn't be bothered to argue. He just looked at the DMA in reverence, from the top of the great iron claws that surrounded the central contraption, to the sun icon on the floor below him. The light filtering through the stained glass windows did little to alleviate the aura of foreboding that this machine radiated in abundance.

Ash noticed that a girl with a grass green shirt and a white skirt and beret was drawing on an easel on the balcony above, and he suddenly thought he recognised her. The curator was oblivious to his lack of attention, as he continued describing the machine.

"It's just a sacred…"

"Wait a sec… It's her!" Ash interrupted, rushing forward eagerly to try and get a better look at the girl. He stopped and leant against the DMA.

"Don't touch it!"

Ash recoiled as though shocked. He didn't realise he had leant on the machine, he was too preoccupied with the girl above him.

"It was and accident, I'm sorry." Ash apologized before turning around to look at her again. She had just finished packing up her easel and was just starting to walk off towards a staircase. If he lost her now, he might not find her again.

"Err… thanks a lot for the tour mister, it was really interesting, see you guys later."

And then he was gone, running back through museum, with Pikachu close behind him.

* * *

Ganon saw a girl in a green shirt and a white skirt walk past him, but he just ignored her, as she wasn't the girl he'd saved that morning. It was just the girl that the other one was pretending to be. Suddenly, he heard Ash yelling from his right. 

"Hey! Wait up!" Ash cried through the hubbub of daily noise.

He really knew how to attract attention, not necessarily good attention, but attention none the less. Then again, he failed to get the attention from the girl.

"Ash, you can't be serious."

Ash ignored his criticism, but motioned for Ganon to come with him. He decided he might as well come along too, if only to stop him getting in too deep a trouble. He quickly called his Sneasel back to follow them.

They continued through the streets and around a corner, almost crashing into a lady out for an afternoon stroll. Again Ganon was forced to jump over someone. This didn't seem to shock Ash anymore. He had already noticed that Ganon was beyond anyone he'd met before, and didn't waste any breath asking how he jumped over six feet into the air. The Sneasel was gifted with faster reactions and had just dodged around her, but where was the fun in that?

Then Ash saw her again. She was on the over side of a canal but barely a few metres away.

"Hey!" He called to get her attention.

"Why'd you disappear like that before?"

She didn't have a clue what this boy was on about, and knew that she'd never seen him before in her life, although she seemed to recognise Ganon. In a sort of, I knew someone like you before way.

"I don't know you. Either of you." was all she said before turning and continuing to walk off.

"Ash, I tried to tell you. That's not the girl from before."

Ash of course wasn't listening; he was too preoccupied by running across the bridge to try to catch up with her again. Ganon sighed before chasing after him again. _So headstrong. He'd better be more careful. Next time he puts his head in a hole to look inside, that something inside might just bite back._

They turned left onto the street they had seen her go up, but at a crossroad, there was no sign of which way she went. Ash was getting impatient to see her again and eventually decided to go left again. As they crossed a bridge, Ganon heard some Murkrows cawing down the canal. He chose against looking at them, as he knew they were an ominous omen, and he was unlucky enough as it was.

* * *

They continued through an archway, and Ash stopped, leaning against the handrail bordering the canal edge. Ganon saw the girl on the bridge without a hat. He knew that this was the girl from earlier, and he smiled at her. She smiled back in a reassuring way. She could tell that Ash was rather slow in the brains department, at least compared to them. They then both watched Ash to see how long it would take for him to notice she was there. Of course, Ash didn't actually notice her at all; it was Pikachu pointing her out to him that made him look up. He immediately tried to rush into questioning. _Foot in mouth, and swallowed._ The girl laughed silently. 

"Hey, what's the big idea?"

She didn't answer him, only beckoning them over with her hand, before turning and jogging away, leading them both through a labyrinth of passageways. Ash had to run to keep up with her, but at least she waited at the next junction so that he could see where she went. That instantly made it more worthwhile.

Ganon knew where she was leading them, and could feel anticipation building up in his chest. It had been so long since he had visited it before, and was eager to see if anything had changed.

Ash was struggling to keep up with her relentless pace. Ganon rolled his eyes.

He'd been different to other people for so long that he had forgotten how limited their energy reserves were.

_For goodness sake, go to a gym once in a while._

"Slow down, will ya?" He cried out, a pained expression snaking it's way across his face.

_Oh come on. Your're not alergic to physical exercise are you?_

She jogged on the spot outside an ornate iron garden arch, gazing subtly at Ganon, before running through it herself. Ash stopped and slowly strolled through the archway when he reached it; delicate vines and foxgloves were intertwined throughout the framework of what turned out to be an arched tunnel. Through the end of the woven branches, they could see what looked like a flight of stairs down towards a grand house, and pathways leading out on either side of the small square which connected them. Ash seemed intrigued by a water fountain that had two Pidgeys drinking from it. They didn't fly off when he approached.

"Ash, over there."

Ganon was pointed at the girl who had waited besides a wall down the right path. She turned around then, and walked straight through a wall.

"Hey!" was all Ash could shout towards her before she was gone.

"Ah, another spatial rift. I seem to have met a lot of these." Ganon said casually as he walked confidently through the wall after her, with Pikachu following suit.

All he heard was Ash yelling back at Pikachu, before he was swallowed by the darkness.

* * *

I've nearly finished the story, so updates should end up a bit faster. 

UPDATED: Well, I've added some more signs of the girls affections for Ganon. Not that any more were needed, but... meh.


	6. Time Out

UPDATED: Well, this one didn't really have much to update, just a big plot hole.

Only about 9 days I think since I started this... feels like a lot longer. Anyway, I've nearly finished the story, with only about three more chapters to go, making this about 12-13 chapters long.

Usual warnings and disclaimers apply.

_Lateral Ganon_

# # # Chapter specific notes # # #

_Italics are Ganon's thoughts. Easy enough._

* * *

**Chapter 6: Time Out.**

So deep was the darkness surrounding him, Ganon just continued to walk forwards.

He heard a sharp intake of breath behind him as Ash walked through the rift behind him. However in the oppressing silence that had enveloped them, neither of them dared to speak. The silence was deafening.

_That's a contradiction in terms. How can silence be deafening? And it's not even silence anyway. I can hear my own footsteps._

Ash ran to catch up with Ganon and Pikachu, seemingly drawing comfort from the fact that he wasn't alone. The corridor they were walking through gradually became lighter in front of them, until they arrived out in the open. Even after that brief span of time in the tunnel, the sun still scorched Ash's retinas when he first moved into the light.

Pikachu and Sneasel had rushed ahead. Being Pokemon, the darkness of the tunnel hadn't been a problem for them, and they didn't seem to be affected by the sudden change in light intensity.

Pikachu squealed to them both to come forwards to see the amazing sight that had unfolded before them.

* * *

They both gasped as they saw the green wonderland spread out before them down a flight of stairs; a great paved pathway flanked by colossal, ancient trees led towards a water feature at the other end of the space, a series of paths branching of this main avenue between the trees. Smaller trees were scattered here and there around the central path, and various ornaments lined each branching path. Rectangular ponds were scattered throughout the area, homing small groups of about three or four Poliwags. A small herd of Butterfree flew past them as they descended the steps.

"This place is amazing"

"…Beautiful." They both finished at the same time.

_Why can't Ash appreciate true beauty, even when it stares him in the face?_ Ganon wondered, until he realised that Ash was only fourteen, and hadn't developed a sense of maturity to his situations.

Ash saw the girl they had been following about halfway down the main avenue, as she turned around and ran up the branching path next to her.

"Hey, it's her."

Ganon sighed again. At least some tact would have been nice to see. Who else could it be for goodness sake? Ash took off after her, oblivious to Ganon's scorning glance.

As they reached where the girl had ran, they came across a large rectangular lake, which had gazebo on an island in the middle, currently sheltering a small group of Wooper. The girl had settled down on a swing, and was currently swinging happily, her eyes intent on the two boys she had led.

Ganon's heart softened. _She looks so cute._ Ash and Pikachu began to run towards her. Something stirred in the garden.

"Ash, stop!"

He had heard them too; the wind chimes that bordered the path had suddenly burst into a flurry of activity around them. The only sound in the garden now was the chimes frenzied whirring. Something very big, very fast, or both, was moving through the garden.

Ganon crouched on the ground, staring at the fountain at the other end of the garden. Ash could not understand what he was doing, and just eyed the wind chimes suspiciously.

Ganon suddenly noticed that Sneasel had wandered over to the lake and had started to drink and wash herself when an explosion from inside the fountain rocked the garden. The shock was enough to shake nests out of the trees around them.

"Sneasel!" was all he could shout before a huge shock wave had surged in the lake, and roared as it crashed down on her. He looked on in disbeleif. She had only been up and about for about an hour, and already she would have been knocked out.

_Man, I'm getting careless._

A poke in the back brought him back from his sorrow and he looked around. There she was. Ganon burst out with delight as she pointed to a branch that dangled low above the water from the tree behind him. As he looked closer, he could see that half of the bark had been scratched off where she had first leapt up. Then he felt the wind on his back again. The something had just swooped in for another dive and was flying off in front of him. Ash didn't know what it was, so he and Pikachu couldn't see what was attacking them, but Ganon had experience in these matters, and could clearly see the outline of a moderately large winged Pokemon.

_My, My. He's grown up well._

He saw Pikachu rolling backwards to a stop next to him, and decided it was too dangerous for Sneasel to stay in the open. He could see the Pokemon circling back around for another dive.

"Sneasel, get over here." He said as he cradled her in his arms, crouched over to shield her from the elements. Ash had just done the same with Pikachu, and was bracing himself for the inevitable impact.

That impact never came, as the girl had just ran into the space between the Pokemon and the two boys, shielding them. All Ash and Ganon could feel was the rush of air that was suddenly displaced as the Pokemon back-flapped to a stop. Then the Pokemon lowered the shield he had used to hide from view, and revealed himself in all his glory.

Both boys stood in absolute shock. Here, hovering before them was the legendary dragon; Latios.

* * *

As the Pokemon screeched at them past the girl, Ash recoiled out of fear, recalling the statues that Ross had pointed out to them in front of the museum.

"It's Latios."

_Ash, are you thick or what?! He knows he's a Latios._

The Latios was squawking at the girl that was blocking him from them. She appeared to be arguing with her. Ganon knew that he wasn't arguing, he was making demands, and they were being ignored. He would attack her if she continued to defy him.

"Why is he so mad at us?"

Ash was surprised when Ganon stepped around the protection the girl had provided, standing straight in front of the Latios, looking straight into its eyes, almost the same shade of red as his own. For some reason, it was just as shocked, which was why it hadn't attacked him yet.

He walked around the Latios in a circle looking at it from every angle, when suddenly another voice cut in.

"What's going on here? What are you doing to Latios?"

Ganon looked straight at the girl. She looked just like the girl that was currently shielding Ash, except she had a white beret and an artist's bag. This was the girl that Ash had seen on the balcony of the museum, and who Ganon had seen walking past him on the bridge. He wasn't surprised why there was two of them.

Ash wasn't as logical as Ganon, and just took to staring at one girl, then the next, and back again.

_Ash, you look like an idiot, _Ganon thought to himself. _What do you think she's doing, teleporting and taking off her hat? What would be the point in doing that?_

"Well?" She demanded of them when she didn't get an answer.

"Hold on a second! We weren't doing anything; we just followed this girl here." Ash said, trying too hard to look innocent.

_Were led by this girl here. You make us sound like stalkers. _The Latios turned and looked at him. Ganon stared right back.

"This is my friend, Pikachu. And I'm Ash, I'm a Pokemon trainer."

"And him?" She said, pointing accusingly at Ganon. Ash remained silent, looking at Ganon as though expecting him to answer her himself.

_Oh great, leave me to talk to the angry girl, just what I always wanted. _He thought sarcastically. The Latios sniggered slightly.

"My name is Ganon. I'm a Pokemon researcher, specialising in the so called legendary Pokemon." He said in a much more calm and collected manner as he walked back to stand next to Ash.

"Oh really?" She asked back. She didn't believe either of them. She didn't care that one of them was telling the truth.

"Alright Latios, get 'em."

_Well if a fight you must, then a fight you get._ He thought as the Latios reared its head and prepared to attack them. He prepared to summon a blast of energy to counter the Latios's attack. _Whatever he uses, it's going to hurt. He's had a long time to practice._

"That's enough." Said another voice coming through the trees, halting the combatants in their step. Ganon dismissed the energy that was building in his hand. No need to burn a hole in his trousers as he dropped his hand to his side.

"Bianca, Latios. I'm sure these boys mean no harm."

"Grandpa, they were…"

"Hey, I know you." Ash suddenly interrupted.

_Of course you know him; he led us around the museum. We were probably his most troublesome guests._

Latios sniggered again.

"But they…"

The curator shushed her into silence, and turned to the other girl.

"It's okay. Latias, do you want to play with your new friends?"

The girl nodded vigorously, before trying to grab Ganon's arm.

_WAAARRRGGGHHH!! Not me! Play with Ash! _He thought as loud as he could, whilst pulling his arm out of her reach.

She released his arm, looking puzzled at him.

_Please don't look at me like that; it's too cute in your human form._

She blushed slightly, then grabbed Ash by the arm and pulled him towards the swing she had vacated just earlier. She pushed him forcefully onto the swing.

_A bit rough aren't you?_

She gave Ganon a mock scathing look before standing on the swing behind Ash, pushing it into motion as she jumped on.

"Hey no offence, but I though Latias was the name of a Pokemon." Ash questioned her, still puzzled by why he'd been picked instead of Ganon. She gave Ganon a quick glance and he nodded back, rolling his eyes at Ash. She smirked and looked back down at Ash. She wanted to see the look on his face.

She began to glow a light blue as she looked back down at Ash, shards of the light breaking away in a dazzling display of sparks, and pushing the swing behind him was a red and white Pokemon with amber eyes; the other legendary dragon, Latias.

* * *

Ash shrieked as he leapt out of the swing at its height, flinging himself into the air, before landing on his face at the edge of the lake. Ganon and the Latios were roaring with laughter, as Latias flew forwards to pick Ash up.

"You hadn't figured out by now that she was a Latias? HA!"

_Sorry about having to reject your offer Latias, but I really wanted to see the shock on his face when he found out you were a Latias. Besides, your brother found it hilarious too._

She looked back at them briefly, before checking to see that Ash was okay.

"Thanks, I'm okay, thanks… a lot." He was still reeling from the effect of seeing what he presumed to just be a rather attractive human girl changing into a legendary Pokemon.

"Laa! Laaaaaaaaaaaa" She cried out as she began flying around his head. That instantly lifted his spirits.

"She must have really taken a liking to these young men." The man said.

Suddenly, Latios swooped down next to Pikachu to investigate the small yellow creature that Ash had brought with him. And after a brief conversation in the Pokemon language, Latios licked the Pikachu's cheek.

"And Latios seems to have taken well to the Pokemon."

* * *

The four of them started slowly walking along the main path, with Pikachu enjoying himself above their heads, jumping between the backs Latios and Latias. Sneasel just looked up enviously and gave Ganon a questioning look.

"Sneasel, you know you can't fly with them. If you got too excited, you'd let loose a blast of dark energy, and knock them straight out of the sky. They are psychic you know."

Sneasel just continued to amble along sulkily. She was hoping she could do just that.

The girl looked towards the two boys and started talking.

"I'm Bianca. Sorry I almost attacked you two before. It is a little surprising considering we never have guests."

"That's okay, Bianca," Said Ash, "I do have a few questions though."

"I suppose you're wondering why Latias looked exactly like Bianca." Said the man who had identified himself to be Lorenzo.

"Yeah."

"Special power of all Latis." Ganon pointed out quickly."They have the ability to shapeshift into any form they desire. And being best friends with Bianca, she will find that shape easier to maintain. Humans are typically the most useful form, although they can rarely master the use of the vocal chords. Thats how you can typically tell the human from the Pokemon."

Lorenzo stared at Ganon suspiciously.

"Correct… How do you know that?"

Ganon waved a finger at him like a parent telling off a naughty child.

"I put in the research. That's also how I explained to Brock how flooding the city could not have defeated either of the fossil Pokemon."

Lorenzo could not believe what he was hearing. When he had heard Brock saying about that theory in the museum, he'd assumed it was the work of a middle aged man like Professor Oak or Hail. Not this little boy who was harly out of the cradle. But he did seem more knowledgable than he was letting on.

He was knocked off his train of thought as Latias suddenly swooped into a dive with Pikachu on her back, flying straight towards Ash. As she passed him, Pikachu leapt from her onto Ash's face. Ash was struggling to breathe whilst Pikachu clambered over his face to sit on his shoulder.

_Could you two find a more private place to do that?_

Latios roared with laughter and almost fell out of the sky.

* * *

Unbeknown to any of them, Latias had sneaked around behind their group. She lashed forwards, and grabbed Ash's hat in her mouth, before flying off towards the fountain with it. She had tried to get Ganon's cravatte, but just as she was about to reach it, he took it off and put it in his pocket. Spoilsport.

"Hey what are you doing?" Ash cried out, laughing slightly, before giving chase and began playing 'Keep Away" with his hat.

"Hey, come on! That's my favourite hat!"

Ganon watched as they played together, and loved the way that Ash used a ruse to trick Latias into getting within range of his grabbing arm. _He's learning the basic skills he'll need._

"Got it!" He cried out triumphant, before playing the game with her again.

Latios had flown over to watch as well, hovering above the fountain. Ganon could sense he was deep in thought as he watched them. Leaning forwards slightly, his eyes began a glow a silvery blue colour.

_Oh boy, is Ash in for a treat._

Ash however couldn't understand why Latias had suddenly stopped playing the game, as she turned around and stared into Latios's eyes. This triggered a similar effect for her.

Latios let out a loud squawk, drawing his arms up to his chest, and dived into the fountain, pulsing his body to cut through the water like a missile, as he entered an underwater tunnel that led into the canal network. Ganon suddenly remembered something important. Potentially very awkward for him.

_Latias. Do NOT include me in this. My powers will taint it._

However, it was too late for that. In this state, she wouldn't be able to hear him in her mind. She floated down behind the group, Ganon clearly distraught. He had to make sure that she didn't encompass him with her power otherwise…

A psychic pulse emanated from her body, and enveloped the entire party. The vision of the party members shifted into a view of the inside of an underwater tunnel. However, there were large patches of view that had remained exactly the same as the fountain in front of them. Lorenzo and Bianca knew something was wrong. Lorenzo looked at the two boys, and noticed that Ganon was covering his own eyes.

"Sneasel. Use a small dark pulse on me, now."

She blasted Ganon with the dark matter, instantly shrouding him from the psychic field. She felt herself relax slightly as she did that, she had wanted to hurt Ganon for a while now, ever since he started exchanging looks with Latias. The patches in the vision for everyone else disappeared.

"Sorry about that. I have a strong degree of psychic power. As this experience is being fuelled by psychic energy, my own powers tampered with the field."

"How is this happening?" Ash quivered. He couldn't understand how he was breathing underwater, because he was too stunned to think rationally. Bianca decided to introduce the topic.

"Don't be afraid Ash, Latios has the power to project to us what he was seeing."

"It's sight sharing" added Lorenzo.

"Basically, Latios is transmitting exactly what he sees to Latias, who then uses the psychic field I so recently messed up to project that image into your mind. Think of it like watching a pokemon battle on TV live."

Ash was still feeling queasy from the fact that Latios was underwater.

"Ash, if you bend down and touch the floor under you, you will feel the pavement that you are stood on. You haven't moved anywhere. You are still in the garden. And you are still breathing air. I can see it considering I'm shielded from the field."

That was enough to calm down Ash sufficiently to be able to enjoy it.

* * *

"This is a rare privilege. To see through the eyes of Latios." Lorenzo commented absently.

_Not as though I can't get that view later..._

"I guess Latios feels he can really trust you two."

On though the maze of canals Latios swam, passing through roving shoals of Remoraid, Chinchou, and even a gang of Quagsires. To Ganon though, they all looked like fools; just stood there in front of the fountain, turning and twisting their heads randomly.

"Latias, this is amazing! Tell Latios we say thanks." He heard Ash say after another bout of head turning.

It was about ten minutes before Latios decided to turn around and head back for the garden. Ganon smiled to himself when he remembered the look on Ash's face when it turned out they went through a herd of rampant Sharpedos. The smell would probably linger as well.

"I must say, Lorenzo, that these two are amazing specimens. They are actually quite strong, considering they are only fledglings." Lorenzo looked at Ganon indignantly, and was about to start yelling at him.

"Hey, that reminds me. How long have you guys known Latios and Latias?" Ash asked them, genuinely intrigued. Lorenzo took a couple of deep breaths.

"I've known them since their father brought the water to our town."

_And never once did you try out the diet._

Latios looked at Ganon sternly.

_What? I'm psychic. It's not my fault he thought about it when he said that._

"He rescued the people from a life of terror, and left us with this beautiful water city. But I'm afraid it was too much for him." Lorenzo continued.

"No Latios can possess the sheer energy required to move such a tonnage of water and survive. He would have known that. His very physical essence would have been used up in the process, leaving no earthly remains." Ganon said. Lorenzo grinned broadly. Ganon had made a big mistake.

"Ah, that's where you're wrong Ganon. He did leave behind a…"

"The Soul Dew is a spiritual remain." He answered. Lorenzo looked annoyed at Ganon's reasoning ability. Only one person had ever been able to annoy him like this before.

"What's the Soul Dew?" Ash interjected. Lorenzo was relieved to be able to explain it to someone who didn't know everything about it.

"It is said to contain the spirit of the Latios."

"Others would call it the soul of Latios. But I could prove it isn't." Ganon added. Lorenzo scowled at him again. He hated how Ganon was so sure of everything to do with Latios and Latias. He had been born and raised to respect and revere them, Ganon just couldn't seem to care. It was as though he was considering them underlings.

"Where is it?"

Ganon just pointed his thumb unceremoniously over his shoulder towards an iron cage over the ledge above the fountain. Lorenzo glowered at him, but didn't question his knowledge. Ash looked into the fountain, and saw a glittering jewel cradled in a claw at the bottom. Considering Ganon didn't think it was important, he turned back to continue his conversation.

"So Latios died saving the town, and his children became orphans."

Ganon groaned loudly, causing everyone to turn and look at him. Even Latias had stopped flitting around idly to listen.

"He didn't die." Ganon stated. The certainty in his voice was so absolute...

Both Latis froze in the air. Neither of them could believe what Ganon had said. Lorenzo's patience snapped. He had concrete evidence to prove that their father had died.

"If that's the case then, where is he then?! Surely he wouldn't be able to keep away from his children. They'd be all the family he has left."

Ganon's patience also snapped the second Lorenzo brought the idea of a family into the question.

"They are not the only family left! What about the original Latias? The one who supplemented the power to bring the water? The one who did survive? Their mother?"

Lorenzo was taken aback by his sudden outburst. This boy was certainly touchy when it came to family ideals. He just pointed to the large lake next to the swing, as unceremoniously as Ganon had when regarding the Soul Dew. Under the gazebo, Ganon could see a marble plaque embedded in the floor that was invisible to all unless viewed from above.

_No. No no no no no..._

He sprinted away from the fountain, and down the path towards it. In a matter of seconds he had jumped across to the gazebo and had knelt down to read the inscription on the tablet, tears forming in his eyes with each line he read.

_Here Lies Laura II_

_Deceased by Heartbreak_

_After The Bringing Of_

_The Water._

_Beloved Wife and Mother._

_Darling of Altomare._

Ganon allowed the tears to fall unchecked. Even the wind in the trees had fallen silent, only adding to the sorrow of the situation. He stared at the tablet unable to accept it. He looked at the shape of the lake that was living testament to her life; ten metres long from nose tip to tail, shaped perfectly to match her figure. He looked back to the stone, still unable to accept it._ So they have no-one left either. _And because of that, he cried all the harder.

Lorenzo had come up behind him and was looking at the plaque over his shoulder, watching Ganon's heaving shoulders rise and fall, before putting a comforting hand on his shoulder. He was shocked by the amount of emotion this boy was showing. Even during the brief time they had spent together, he had recognised Ganon as a boy that would never cry. Clearly, something here must have really upset him.

At his touch, Ganon looked back to the headstone. Underneath the words, he identified an etching of a Latias in profile surrounded by a symbol which resembled a sun. He racked through his memory and instantly recognized the image.

It was the power source icon of the DMA.

* * *

Well, thats another installment of this, hope you like it.

UPDATED: Okay, I've removed a bit at the end saying that Laura was used in the DMA. That was the really big plot hole, that I fell in and ended up in China because of.

Apart from that, there were no real changes to this chapter.


	7. An Ocean Apart

UPDATED: This was a chapter that I wanted to update, as I didn't think the battle was spectacular enough. At no point yet have I mentioned the extent of Ganon's powers, just that there's a lot of it.

Thanks for the reveiws, heres a bit more stuff to chew on. There would have been a bit that was a reference to Holiday Open's second reveiw when Ganon is talking about Latias being chased by the girls before, where he appears to make a numerical error. He was going to blame it on sleep deprivation, but that wouldn't work in his character, and later in the story.

Usual warnings and disclaimers apply. BUT this chapter contains some mild bad language.

_Lateral Ganon._

# # # Chapter Specific notes # # #

(Headbutts a wall in frustration, and abolishes CSN in a fit of rage.)

# # # **STORY **Specific Notes # # #

_Italics are Ganon's thoughts. And psychic speech. They're the same really._

_

* * *

_

**Chapter 7: An Ocean Apart**

Ganon walked back up to the main fountain with Lorenzo, the shock from seeing the grave melting away behind him. He had learnt that excessive grief would be pointless.

* * *

Bianca and Ash had settled down by the fountain to talk about themselves with each other when they returned. Latias swooped down and tried to nuzzle Ganon, oblivious to his trauma. 

"She wants to play with you too." Bianca told him, a smile playing on her face.

_We can't play now, it's getting late. _He thought to her, hoping the slightly irritated tone didn't also creep through the link.

She didn't seem to notice, but she did back away from him, looking into his eyes. Those beautiful amber eyes. He felt the icy grip that had taken a hold of his heart start to melt. Why did she have to do that to him? It'd make an impossible job even harder.

_Oh, please don't look at me like that, it'll be my undoing._

Latias blushed slightly, before licking his face. Lorenzo laughed slightly.

_Are you trying to flirt with me, Latias?_

She nodded. He raised one eyebrow at her questioningly, surely she couldn't be serious. She just licked him again. He nervously gave her a gentle reassuring hug. Bianca's smile widened, unnoticed by Ganon.

_Latias, don't. You don't know who you're flirting with._

Latias just looked confused. She had thought that Ganon loved her because of the look in his eyes whenever he looked at her. This boy had effectively died for her. Surely that was a show of his devotion. She knew no other human would do that.

_Now don't get me wrong Latias. I do love you, but…_

Latias didn't want to hear the rest. She just liked what she heard. She licked him again more passionately. She was practically infatuated.

_Latias, this is your last warning. Do not do this. You will regret it if you continue._ He put the most annoyed intonation he could into the link. If she didn't stop, he would become enraged. And if he didn't control it, she'd be killed instantly.

She ignored his protesting, and licked him again. This time on the lips. That was as close as it came to a Pokemon to a kiss.

_That's it. Now I'm really narked off!_

"Latias! Stop that now!" Ganon bellowed at her, pushing her away forcefully. If she had stopped listening to him mentally, he would be forced to talk so everyone else could hear him. It was her own fault for her blind devotion.

"I tried to use my psychic ability to save you some dignity, but you deliberately ignored me. I can not love you in the same way you love me. It is more wrong than you can possibly imagine. You are a stupid, pathetic little fledgling." He spat. So what if she was a dragon Pokemon. If her feelings were hurt, it was her own stupid fault.

Latias looked on the verge of tears as she closed her eyes, her shoulders heaving. How could he be so heartless and cruel to her, after all the fun they had had? This Ganon… _her _Ganon…

* * *

But when she opened her eyes again, a cold deep fury emanated from their depths. A rejection was impossible. Anyone would be overjoyed for a legendary Pokemon to love them to this degree. Clearly, this boy had to utterly hate her to be able to do such a thing. Such pure hatred for him was radiating from her that even Lorenzo and Bianca backed off suddenly. That he could look her in the eyes and lie to her was totally despicable. As usual, Ganon stood his ground. Even now, he resisted her feminine charms. She just wanted to hurt this boy; to totally and utterly destroy him, and his lack of respect for her. She would make him pay for that. 

"I see you intend to attack me. Go ahead. If it's a battle you want, a battle you shall get." He said to her dramatically, throwing his waistcoat and shirt to one side, revealing a pure white T-shirt underneath. If she wasn't so preoccupied with trying to kill him, she would have appreciated the view. An older teenage boy in a tight white T-shirt with fingerless gloves was a view most teenage girls would have pinned up on their walls. She also noticed he was wearing a silver Latias pendant. Now she just found the whole image sickening. She screeched at him.

Sneasel leapt in front of him, ready to attack the Latias at a moments notice. Ganon chuckled as he picked her up and handed her to Ash. She struggled to try to escape from his grip, until Ganon ordered her to stop scratching Ash. She was leaving marks.

"Sneasel. You underestimate my own power. I shall battle her myself. No Pokemon shall help me. I accept your challenge Latias."

He walked back to where he was stood before, and turned to face the dragon who so despised him. Even now, he could stand before her, oblivious to her immense power.

_Come on then. Give me your best shot. _He goaded her. He raised himself into the air using his psychic abilities, so he could face her at eye level. He didn't want her to get neck-strain trying to kill him.

Latias opened her mouth and let loose a mighty beam of her pure undiluted hate for the boy before her. Ash, Lorenzo, and Bianca all cowered from the ferocity of the blast. The energy in the beam would be enough to vaporise Ganon, and half the garden behind him. No amount of landscaping would hide the evidence that would surely last for aeons to come.

Ganon however just smiled a twisted smile as she let loose the beam. He held up his right hand, palm facing the oncoming beam. He couldn't help but laugh as he grew claws of a strange blue crystaline material.

As everyone looked back at the space where Ganon had previously been, they were shocked to see he was still exactly as before the attack. Except for a ball of white energy that now resided in his right hand. He tossed it up and down a bit like a cricket ball, before looking straight back at Latias. She quailed under his intense gaze.

He threw the ball straight back at her, empowering the ball with his own energy. Sparks outwardly radiated from its core as it crossed the space between them, growing in intensity with every passing inch. She closed her eyes tightly as she waited for the inevitable impact. The energy in there now was immense. She wished she hadn't reacted so badly to his rejection… that she hadn't kept control over her emotions.

The ball stopped short a matter of inches from her face. She blinked at it briefly before she heard Ganon whispering in her mind again.

_I know how hard it is for you to keep your emotions in check, Latias, but how dare you attack your elders? Remember that you are only a fledging._

And the ball collided into her, shrouding her with innumerable sparks. Latias had expected intense pain when she was vaporised, but as she opened her eyes, she realised she felt better. Much better in fact. She felt as though she had just floated out of an Altomare mineral spa.

Ganon had transfigured the form of the energy into healing instead of killing. She didn't understand what was going on, until she felt a kiss on her cheek. Did Ganon just…

* * *

"You really do spoil her Ganon." Lorenzo said as he saw him gently scratching her head. She was purring contentedly. Ganon ignored him. 

_I'm sorry I said all the nasty things. You're not stupid, or pathetic. I was just annoyed by how much you were holding me in your heart over Altomare. No-one else can protect Altomare besides you and your brother. Your father wouldn't want you to abandon your duty._

Latias just cooed in Ganon's arms. She liked the way he complimented her.

_That was not a compliment. _She looked up at him, then rested her head on his lap again.

"How did you manage to suppress that amount of energy?" Lorenzo asked him. He never knew anyone that could stand up to the might of a legendary. Ganon decided to be enigmatic, just to annoy him.

"You'll find out eventually. I have a great many secrets. And a majority of them are dangerous." Ganon said, whilst looked predominantly at Latias, who was still cooing in his lap. Lorenzo groaned slightly before turning to Ash.

"Well… Shall we head back then?" Lorenzo asked him, who was currently stroking Latias's neck. He knew Ash was less likely to bite his head off, or be excessively cryptic.

"Okay." He said. He had had enough action for one day, and could do with a good nights sleep. He looked at his watch. It was already 19:30.

"Just give me a minute." Ganon said as everyone else turned to leave. Lorenzo looked back in surprise, but Bianca looked at him with a small smirk. They could tell by his manner that he wanted to be alone with her. They continued back through the garden towards the nearby exit.

"We'll be waiting for you through there. Don't take too long." Lorenzo told him.

* * *

Ganon turned around to face Latias, and sat down on his knees in front of her. 

_Latias, there is something I want to show you._

She squealed at him excitedly.

_No, that's rude. It's this locket. _He said, as he opened it along the side. There were two pictures of Latias' inside, one in flight on the left, marked Laura, and another one, much smaller cradled in the arms of a Latios whose name had been burnt out on the right marked…

_Lani, that's you when you were even smaller than you are now. I can't tell you how I came to possess it, but by rights it's yours. _He told her. He took it off and offered it to Latias.

* * *

She just looked at it, head tilted to one side. She had never appreciated herself beside her mother, but now the family features were obvious, namely, the mark on the back of her left claw; a small spiralling rune. She then looked at the picture of her in the Latios' arms, and smiled gently as she saw her father. She noticed that he had been granted the rune when they became mates. It was a mark of their permanant bond with each other. He had always been out defending Altomare, back then Terratra, only coming back to the garden twice after she had been born. She cherished her moments with him. The first time was when he had taught her how to become invisible, and introduced the concept of sight sharing to them, although her mother had had to finish off those lessons, as he was called to save the town again. 

She especially remembered the second time, only a matter of months afterwards. It was when she was first allowed to go flying outside of the garden with him; she had been clinging to his back as she still hadn't got the hang of flying. He looped and dived, laughing happily with her, before he took her to the manor house erected especially for them on a pillar of rock, only accessible by air, where he taught her how to focus and use her powers. That was a lesson he would never finish. It was that day that the fossils had launched their most powerful offensive against the town, slaughtering by the hundreds. He had rushed backed to Terratra to defend his people. When he arrived, the Aerodactyl noticed the Latias on his back, and immediately turned on him to eliminate this young threat. She remembered her father squealing under her as he fought to keep her safe from the Aerodactyl, trying to reach over his shoulder to snap at the youngster. He twisted and turned through the narrow streets, continuously being hunted down by the predator. She remembered screaming as she was thrown off his back, rescued by her mother who immediately rushed her away to the safety of the garden. As she looked back, she had never anticipated that she would never see him again. She just watched in anguish as he grappled with the Aerodactyl, desperately trying to keep it away from them, and then he was gone. They had flown around a corner. It was on that fateful day that he was forced to bring the water.

* * *

Tears were streaming down her face as she remembered it all with vivid clarity. The last contact she had had with him being when he had held her hand tightly as he tried to teach her to fly on the island. She looked over at the Soul Dew, which still contained his spirit, and audibly wept. 

_You miss him don't you. _Ganon said, his mental voice little more than a whisper.

She looked at him, and slowly nodded, holding her neck out for him to put the locket around it. He slipped the locket over her head, clipping it in place. She looked down at the locket, and began to cry again.

_Oh, please don't cry. It's too sad for a moment like this. The two of us, together._

He brushed a tear away from her face, and she cooed gently at him. He smiled at her.

_Take good care of it. It is almost the most valuable thing on this earth to me._

She nodded again, smiling back. She knew that meant that Ganon loved her over almost anyone or anything else. He held her claw in her hand and gave it a squeeze before getting up. She licked his cheek, and he didn't resist. He smiled and kissed her nose.

_I'll never let you go._

* * *

Latias cooed sadly as Ganon got up. As he walked away, he almost felt guilty at how much he had become to Latias, and a part of him wanted to stay with her. But he knew it would be selfish. 

Sneasel shot Latias a long scowl. She was annoyed that Ganon and Latias had become more than just friends. Latios screeched at the Sneasel and she bolted after Ganon.

Lorenzo led them back through the opposite end to where the boys had come in. It led into a small wooden room furnished with craftsman's tools and the central space was taken up with a half finished gondola. It turned out that besides being a volunteer for the museum, he spent most of his days making gondolas for a living. He volunteered Bianca to take them back into the main area of town, near the PokeCentre.

Ganon was sat up watching the sights that passed by as Bianca drove them back into town on her grandfather's speedboat. He could hear sweet music being played on an accordion in a distinctly Latin style from some of the higher windows they passed.

Ash had already seen most of this part of the town, as he was paying attention when Ross had taken them on the tour. He decided to talk to Bianca again.

"Hey Bianca, why were those two girls chasing you before? Did you know them?"

"Huh? What are you talking about?" She asked him. She didn't really have any friends besides Latios and Latias.

"Oh it must have been Latias."

"Somebody was chasing Latias?"

Ganon perked up his ears at the mention of the Latias.

"Two girls by the name of Annie and Oakley were chasing her this morning. They had ensnared her using an Ariados just as we arrived. Ash broke the silk that was restraining them, and I used myself as a shield so that Ash and Latias could get away. That's the second time I've technically died for her."

"Ganon, you said you'd only met her before when she saved my life, and you didn't die for her then."

"I meant the first time. She was still in Latias form then, and she was invisible to you because you didn't know she was there."

"You knew she was a Latias?"

"Of course. Why do you think she never spoke? She hasn't had time to get used to using human vocal chords."

"Does that mean you'd die for her again?" Bianca asked him with a cheeky smirk, suddenly rather interested in the topic again.

"What are you trying to suggest?" He asked her, looking around to give her a piercing look. She didn't falter under his gaze, and Ash saw the first time when Ganon was surprised.

_What the? She has more integrity than I thought. Must have got it from Lorenzo._

"You love her don't you."

Ganon fumbled around with his hands and turned back towards the front of the boat, blushing heavily. Bianca smiled knowingly. Ganon always seemed different when he was around Latias.

Ganon was also troubled by Bianca's powers of deduction. If she could figure that much out just by his body language, what else could she figure out? She could be problematic if she worked it all out. Especially if she then told the Latis.

Then again, he had thought about Latias a lot more than anyone else lately, although that could easily be explained by the fact that the Rocket agents could strike at any…

_DAMN! The Rocket agents! How could I forget! Oh, why didn't I destroy their laptop when I had the chance. Then they'd... get out a new one... DAMN!_

Ash noticed the sudden look of anguish that Ganon had just acquired. He thought it was just embarrassment at Bianca's deductions. Only when Ganon turned around to face him did it become apparent. The look on his face told him that something else was troubling him. Something big, and probably dangerous.

"Ash, I need to sleep in your room with you tonight."

Ash didn't question him when Ganon left him time for an answer.

"The wheels of something terrible are in motion. Potentially fatal for not just one or two, but the whole world. Only you and I can stop this."

"Now that's just crazy."

"Crazy like a Slowking."

Ash knew what Ganon was getting at, but he still had doubts about why he had to do all the world saving business when Ganon seemed much more qualified to do it instead.

"Why do you have to sleep in our room?"

"Lets put it this way. Those two Rocket Agents are after something either very valuable, or very powerful. Probably both. The Soul Dew is technically the most valuable gem on the planet, if not the known universe. The DMA is the most powerful weapon ever built. Both of them are on this little island. That immediately makes this a very enticing place for thieves. But there is another more urgent problem.

The Soul Dew is also used as the control circuit to the DMA, with a Latios, or a Latias, used to power it. The Latis have immense reserves of power in their bodies, as shown by the original Latios when he brought the water to this town. The DMA allows a human controller to harness the powers of a Lati, and the Soul Dew is used to mould that power to the operators will."

"I get the gist, but why do you need to be in our room?"

"The… family bond… between Latios and Latias will cause the Latios to protect her with every breath, even giving up his own life if the conditions necessitate it. Even if he is captured, he will still defend her. Regardless of what happens, Latias will always escape poachers as long as Latios is nearby to protect her. They never stray from the garden at night, which is when the Rockets would attack, so that is guaranteed. She will use the same underwater tunnels that Latios showed you before during your sight sharing session to come to the PokeCentre to find the only people who can help. Us."

"What about Bianca and Lorenzo?"

"They guard the garden, but the Rockets Espeon will overpower them. When it attacked me, I was actually knocked out, however briefly. When they are attacked, they will stay out for quite a long time. By then it would be too late. There is also the possibility that it may kill them."

"We've got to tell them."

"We can't. It is almost as fatal to know too much about your own destiny. I know from experience. I can't guarantee when the attack will be. However, when it does happen, Latias will actively seek me out…

"Why you?"

"Psychic energy, she'll sense me easier. Anyway, as she will seek me out, I need to be with you so that she finds you too. If she continues to lust after me, I can be guarantee she will be heartbroken, and I won't stand for that."

"Well, if you won't stop flirting with her…"

"I do not flirt with her!" Ganon yelled indignantly. Bianca smiled knowingly as she continued to watch the two boys in front of her. She really liked Ganon, she couldn't help it, but she felt safe near him.

"I do not flirt with her." He whispered this time, "She started it."

"Well, why did you wait behind alone with her afterwards?"

"Never mind about that, it was something important. Anyway, can I stay in your room with you until then?"

Ash took a long time to think about all he had said. If this was the case, then it was up to them to save the world, and Ganon would be the best person to have by his side.

If he was wrong, then it wouldn't really be much of a problem, but there was one condition.

"Okay, but you better not snore."

Ganon couldn't help but laugh. He found Ash's preoccupation with nasal habits hilarious considering the trouble they were about to be in.

"What's so funny?" Bianca asked. Ganon and Ash had been whispering, so she hadn't heard a single word of the exchange.

"Sorry, it's a man joke."

She scowled as she moored the boat fifty metres from the PokeCentre.

"Well, thank goodness I didn't hear the rest of the conversation. I bet it wasn't suitable for kids."

_Certainly not suitable for kids like you to whom it applies the most._ He thought as he climbed out of the boat.

* * *

Ganon wil NOT be taking Latias away, for anyone scared of that. This was my favorite chapter to write, mainly just because of the Latias/Ganon fight and the Latias/Father Latios flashback. Note that the name Lani is from Bound To The Dragins Heart by Pichu Star. It is an excellant story, and I wanted to make a reference out of respect for it. 

UPDATED: I added some of the fianl sections to Ganon and Ash's conversation. I also added some parts to Ganon/ Latias conversation after the flashback, just to make it seem more romantic. The higher you are, the further you fall. Heh heh heh...


	8. Things That Go Bump In The Night

UPDATED: But not very much has been changed so it's not really worth mentioning.

This chapter is where it seems to start going wrong for me, it's shorter than the last one. But on another note, I've finished the story. It is 14 chapters long, and now I can update at a regular pace again. Namely, on Saturdays/Sundays and Wednesdays/Thursdays. That should make it about three weeks until the whole story is up, unless I feel the need to change something. I made it up as I went along, so I still need to check the rest for plot holes or things that don't make sense.

Note that this is the part that explains my user-name.

Usual warnings and disclaimers apply.

Additional Dislaimers: I do not own the sydney opera house. Obviously.

Additional warning: Some mild swearing. I think one/two instances in this chapter.

_Lateral Ganon_

# # # Chapter Specific notes # # #

CSN has come back from exile. Gesticulate means to perform gestures.

_Ganons thoughts and mind speech are still italics._

* * *

**Chapter 8: Things That Go Bump In The Night**

When they arrived at the PokeCentre, Ganon immediately rushed to his own room. Ash followed him, because he expected that Ganon would need a hand moving some things. He certainly didn't expect Ganon to only have a... whatever it was.

"Ganon. What the hell is that?" Ash cried as Ganon pulled what appeared to be a metal backpack out of a wardrobe in his room. He didn't answer him. It was made of steel bands that arched to give it the appearance of the Sydney Opera House if all the ridges were facing the same way. When he tried to pick it up, it was immensely heavy, and impossible to lift. How Ganon had shrugged it onto his shoulders to take it to their room was anyone's guess. But he didn't bother to ask. It would be pointless. Ganon would just tap his nose again in a 'you don't need to know' way.

As he brought it through to Ash's room, he could sense that Sneasel was still upset with him. Even if he wasn't psychic, he would have been able to realise. She had been eyeing him evilly ever since he left the garden.

"I think she's jealous of my relationship with Latias." He said matter-of-factly.

"I know what you mean." Ash laughed whilst looking back, "I had a Chikorita which was absolutely besotted with me. When I tried to battle with her, she would always run up to me and snuggle against my leg, before I had to point out where the Girafarig was to get her to attack. Even now she's a Bayleef, it doesn't stop her trying."

Sneasel just sulked as she followed her master to Ash's room.

"There's a spare bed under Misty's bunk you can sleep on."

"What? Where's your sense of honour? I won't encroach on the bed of a girl."

"Then where will you sleep?" Ash said. Surely he wasn't going to sleep on the table. That would just be stupid, it was too short, so his feet would poke off the end. Ganon just raised an eyebrow at the narrow-mindedness of this child. He moved over to a corner of the room that was totally unfurnished, looking no different to the rest of the room. He prodded the wall a bit with his finger, and put his backpack down. That was enough to say 'I'm sleeping here' because no-one else could move his backpack. He sat down with his back to the wall, crossing his legs and his arms, and leant back against it.

"Mmmmm… this is comfortable."

"The wall?"

"What?"

"You're sleeping sat against a wall."

"Is there a problem with that?"

Ash just kneaded his forehead with his knuckles. Ganon was becoming more and more confusing by the day.

"No… No problem at all… It's just a bit… weird."

"Well, I am a weird person."

"I'd noticed."

Ganon narrowed his eyes at him briefly, before they both burst out laughing. Brock and Misty had just entered the room, and couldn't see what was so funny. They just saw Ganon sat on the floor, and Ash just stood there looking at him.

'Men' thought Misty. 'Teenagers' thought Brock.

* * *

They were shocked to hear from Ash that Ganon was going to be sleeping in their room from now on. He didn't go into the precise details, but he did explain that it was necessary. Misty immediately moved towards her bed. Ganon just laughed at her motion. 

"Misty, do you really think I'd sleep in such proximity to someone of the opposite gender? Do you really think I'm so heartless?"

Misty just turned scarlet. She didn't think of it that way, and moved aside to allow him to get to the bed. He didn't move from where he was sat.

"What?"

"I'm sleeping here."

"What?!"

"I'm sleeping here."

Misty didn't press the matter further. Ganon was clearly crazy in her opinion. Who would choose a wall in favour of a bed? An absolute nutcase, that was for sure.

Brock suddenly looked up from the pokeball with the Ditto in. He still hadn't been able to open it. He didn't look so surprised at Ganon's sleeping habits.

"How do you actually sleep against a wall?"

"Like this"

Ganon crossed his arms and legs and rested his head on his shoulder.

"Ah, that explains it then."

"Explains what?" Misty asked, desperately. She wanted something to convince her that she wasn't sharing a room with a mad-man, and that when she woke up her head would still be attached to her neck.

"Ganon sleeps in the same position as an Abra. Abra's sleep for eighteen hours a day in that position, so it must be comfortable for that amount of time."

Misty was very relieved. She turned around to get into her own bed, and screamed. There was something sleeping in the lower bunk.

"Oh, by the way. My Sneasel is a bit fussier about where she sleeps, so she's in the lower bunk. She shouldn't leave too many hairs." Ganon said whilst smiling. He began to wonder if he was playing too many tricks on her.

_Nah._

Misty looked as though she was going to be sick.

* * *

Even at night, it was still incredibly hot. Four hours ago when they decided to go to sleep, Brock had opened the window to alleviate the heat. Everyone was comfortably asleep, even Sneasel who was nocturnal by nature was tucked away in the land of Nod. She was dreaming about being a human, and being married to Ganon. She dreamt of the house they would share, deep in the arctic tundra with a stuffed Latias head hanging in her room. She smiled in her sleep as she thought of it. 

Ganon was also dreaming. It was a nightmare about strange monsters chasing him through the dark corridors of Altomare, snapping their drooling jaws a matter of inches behind him. He couldn't outrun them for long, he had to stand and fight. He lashed at them with his hands, trying to blind the monster chasing him, but that wasn't enough. it just annoyed it more. The creature lashed out with it's talons.

Even though there was little wind, a light breeze fluttered through the room, as something displaced the air outside. Pikachu, Sneasel and Ganon all sensed it, and woke up. Sneasel just looked at the window, and decided she didn't care. She went back to sleep, putting a pillow over her head so she wouldn't be disturbed again. Ganon was scrabbling at his chest as he woke up. Nothing there. He had just continued to sit there, still reeling from his nightmare, when he saw a blue light pulsate through the air in front of him.

_Oh crap._

Pikachu ran up towards the light, shouting his own name. This was sufficient to wake Ash up. He looked around blurry eyed to see why Pikachu had woken him. He looked and saw a girl stood on the balcony.

"Bianca? Hey, what's up?" Ash said, also waking up Misty and Brock. The girl just threw herself on him, and sobbed silently on his shoulder. Ganon stood up and walked over to Ash.

"Bianca wouldn't come in though the window. Unless she's a secret cat burglar, which I definately doubt." He whispered.

It was exactly as he had feared; Latias was here.

* * *

"Misty, Brock, you'd better sit down." Ganon said as he pulled out some chairs for them to sit on. They took the proffered chairs apprehensively. Ganon wasn't the sort of person who would offer comfort unless something very uncomfortable was about to come up. 

"Brock, Misty, you know I said I saw a girl in the museum?"

Misty and Brock nodded. They remembered Ash running out without even telling them where he was going.

"Is this her?" Misty asked.

Ash looked to Ganon. He didn't know exactly how much of Latias's identity it was safe to reveal to them. Even though they were his best friends, he knew that if Ganon thought it would be safer to keep them ignorant, then that was the end of the matter.

Ganon nodded, whilst placing a hand on Latias's shoulder comfortingly. Ash put a hand on her other shoulder, but he withdrew it quickly. She was absolutely freezing.

"Ash," Ganon whispered, "the temperature of a Lati is related to its mood. The hotter it is, the more excited it is. Considering she has just lost her brother to rockets, she'll be freezing."

"How can you keep your hand on her?"

"Because I'm at the same temperature, making her feel normal to me." He said, as he lifted his hand and walked back to the wall.

* * *

"This girl is the legendary Pokemon Latias." Ash said to the rest of the group. 

"She's Latias?!" Brock and Misty both said incredulously.

"That's right. Latias," She looked back at Ash, having just spent the last minute watching Ganon. "I'd like you to meet my friends. This is Misty and Brock."

She looked at them briefly, and then looked down at the table. Seeing them reminded her why she was here in the first place. They looked like such a close family, and she had just lost her brother to the pair of Rockets who'd come storming into the garden. He'd sacrificed himself for her. Just like Ganon had… sort of.

She turned back to look at Ash. He nodded to her. She turned around to look at Ganon. He wasn't interested; he had just turned his backpack over, and was fiddling with some dials. It seemed now would not be a good time to ask for his opinion. He'd probably go mental again.

She stood up before Misty and Brock, and transformed back into Latias. They both stood up in shock at the sudden transformation. Brock was holding his hands up in front of him, repulsed by the fact he had less than platonic feelings for the girl before, who now turned out to be a Pokemon. Latias had already sensed this, and thought she now understood why Ganon had taken so badly to her affections, although why he would continue to kiss her she still didn't understand. Misty was staring at her in reverence and awe. She wanted to see a Latias or a Latios since she knew what the Pokemon on her medallion were. Latias seemed more pleased by Misty's reaction to her, but she found the staring uncomfortable. She turned away to avoid her intense gaze.

"Ah, you transformed back I see." Ganon said, turning back from the backpack. "I've finished my update on that, so now I'm compatible with Lateral energies again."

"Lateral Energies?" Brock asked. He didn't really care for an answer, but thought it would be better for it to be explained anyway. Ganon folded his arms and look insulted. He didn't like Brocks attitude to his abilities.

"They are the band of energies emitted and used by every Latios and Latias. I used to be compatible with them when I was younger, and had a more open mind."

"Why don't you have that power now?"

"Oh, I do have the power, but it caused interference with their own innate powers, such as two way telepathy and…"

* * *

Latias' eyes suddenly began to glow silvery blue, and the whole room was flooded with Lateral energy. Ash and Ganon instantly recognised the phenomena, but Misty and Brock were terrified. Brock would even need a new change of underwear. 

Everyone in the room could see they were in a large hall, dominated by a large mechanical device. A trio of black metal rings were spinning around them, and underneath them they could see an icon that resembled the sun. Ganon swore violently as he realised.

They were looking into the DMA chamber.

"How did we get in here?" Brock asked Ash, as Ganon was too preoccupied with inspecting the machine.

"What's going on Ash?" Misty added.

"Sight Sharing." He told them. "We're seeing exactly what Latios is seeing right now."

"Teleporting would not work for two reasons. The energy requirements would be huge, and, I'm not going to provide that energy because it would be pointless. See these rings orbiting around? They generate a containment field. Nothing can get in or out of this sphere whilst those rings are moving."

As they looked around the room, Ash saw that a huge web covered one wall. Tied up at the bottom of it, was…

"Bianca! And Lorenzo." Ash suddenly shouted.

Ganon was looking to the other side. The machine had started moving again, ratcheting and pivoting noisily.

"The DMA is active?!" Ganon shivered. It was the only thing on the planet that could rival his own power.

"Somebody's stolen the Soul Dew!"

"And guess who it was…" Said Ganon as he pointed through the bars. Everyone else looked to where Ganon was pointing.

Two girls were stood beside what appeared to be an open metal sphere, connected to the bulk of the machine. One with silver hair stepped up into the cockpit.

He could see the screen forming before her as she sat down. That was not good.

"Someone's been doing there homework. This thing's control mechanism is based on gestures. If she knows how to even turn it on, then she'd going to be causing some serious damage." He said, as he continued to watch the girl gesticulate.

They could see Lorenzo struggling against his bindings, but to no avail. Ganon didn't really care what he had to say. He recognized the gesture the girl had just made, and despite himself, he smiled.

Two blue lights weaved into the hallway from the main atrium, spiralling around each other, leaving trails like a strand of DNA.

_Now here I am, watching the city in mortal danger, and I decide to think about how those lights look like a double helix._

Their field of vision waved up and down briefly. It appeared that Latios had laughed again.

"Well that proves it; I'm now fully compatible with Lateral energies again!"

"Ganon, can you please come back to the serious side of this? Those lights have just reformed as Aerodactyl and Kabutops. The evil fossils."

Ganon just laughed all the harder.

"All the better! I get to kill them again!" he roared out with laughter. There was something chilling about his laugh though. It sounded like a rasp.

"Ganon! Calm down! Please! How is this happening?" Misty begged.

His laughing abruptly ceased. The Kabutops and Aerodactyl were moving out.

"The energy it would have taken to revive the three Pokemon would have been enormous. "

"Two" Misty argued.

"Three, don't argue with me. I can count. Anyway, Latios soon won't have enough energy to maintain the projection."

He was soon proved correct. A matter of seconds later, Latios blacked out, leaving Latias alone in the world. She collapsed to the carpet as the energy deficit left her dazed.

"Latias, are you okay?" Ash cried out as she fell. She looked up at him briefly before lowering her head back down to recover. From the shock.

"I think we're in trouble." Brock said.

"Everyone in this city is in trouble."

"But we're now public enemies one, two and three." Ganon added, smiling at Ash and Latias, "And here come the fuzz."

* * *

Yes, Ganon should seem pretty crazy at this point. But he knows what he's doing with his craziness... maybe... 

At least he isn't stupid. He always knows what he's doing... usually...

And for swack16, he doesn't do something stupid that will get himself killed. As I said at the start of this story, I need Ganon for other stories in the future.

UPDATED: But not really much.


	9. Jumping The Gun

UPDATED: Not much plot difference here, just another hint about Ganon.

I know I said that I would update this on a regular basis, but I got bored. Two chapters up in one day... Sheesh...I told myself I needed patience, but that's too boring. I also got bored of my old summary, so the new one should be better.

Again for swack16, don't be sorry. I've seen too many fics with character deaths to just kill a character off at the end of a story. That would be cruel. It wouldn't work considering Ganon's back story. (Looks over the story.) Which I have forgotton to put in at any point. Okay, heres a brief summary of it, again making it up as I go along.

Ganon once lived in the pokemon world, before the intervention of fate brought him to this world through a temporal rift, (reason for his familiaruty with rifts in C5.) He picks up the Nintendo DS in this world, and through the imagination of the creator and owner of Pokemon, Satoshi Tajiri and Nintendo, it causes a rift back into his own world. He was only in our world for a matter of hours.

Well, That's that bit sorted out, I ought to word it a bit better, but sleep should be encouraged at least once a week. (Yawns and hits keyboard with face. The author snores loudly.)

Usual disclaimers/ warnings apply. Warning: Contains use of the middle finger at the end.

_Lateral Ganon_

# # # Chapter Specific Notes # # #

SCUBA stands for Self Contained Underwater Breathing Aparatus.

_I don't know what the italics mean, Ganon thought to himself._

* * *

**Chapter 9: Jumping The Gun.**

Ganon leant forwards to talk to Ash.

"We need to save Latios. The sooner the better. Within a matter of seconds, those two will enforce a city-wide lockdown. Those fossils won't have a problem using the canals to get around." Ganon whispered to Ash as he stood up, shouldering his backpack. He had extracted a pair of tubes from the top of the pack, and had connected them to a facemask and mouthpiece. No-one knew when he had put a wetsuit on in his usual colouration, and where he had hidden the blue flippers was anyone's guess. He decided to leave on an enigmatic note, adressing the whole room before they could ask any questions.

"Every second you wait is another second wasted. Good luck."

* * *

He backed away from the group, toppling over the edge of the balcony, into the water below. 

"What the hell does he think he's doing?!" Brock yelled out as he saw him fall. He heard a splash, then silence.

"I think he's swimming. He did say that the canals were the best way to get to the museum."Ash told them.

Suddenly, he could hear mechanical clunks, and hundreds of ratchets catching within the walls of the buildings. Ash ran onto the balcony to see what the commotion was. Immense steel cables were growing out to the ground and walls, crisscrossing over doorways.

"What's going on?" Misty asked him. She was oblivious to Ganon's warnings.

"It's the lockdown that Ganon was warning me about." He told her. His attention was drawn to the opposite balcony, where cables had snaked their way up to form a cage. Circular barricades slotted into place between the bars.

Every second you wait is another second wasted, Ash suddenly remembered, as the cables began to form a cage around their own balcony.

"Oh no! Latias come on!" He shouted as he jumped over the edge into the water. Not a second too soon, as the cables had just cut off the balcony from the outside world, with four steel spikes forming where Ash had just been. Those would have impaled him instantly. And impaling tends to hurt. A lot.

"Ash! Where are you going" Brock cried out through the mesh.

Ash bobbed up from under the surface, and shivered before answering. The water was as cold as Latias to his skin.

"We'll be okay; we're going to the museum. We have to stop them."

He swam over to a golden gondola moored across the canal.

"Okay Latias, can you guide me to the museum?"

She nodded at him.

"Okay, lets get going."

_You have to untie the boat first Ash._

Ash cringed as he heard Ganon talking in his head.

"How can you see that?"

_Lateral energy is an immense power. As well as telepathy, it allows me to roam a third eye around Altomare. It's called scrying. I presume you know how to paddle a gondola?_

"Yes, I watched Ross this morning."

_Then get going, and untie it first._

Ash cringed again, and finally untied the rope.

* * *

Ash had been paddling for only a matter of minutes before he had caught up with Ganon. He had stopped and surfaced. He was facing the way they had come, looking up into the sky behind him. 

"Ash! It's Aerodactyl!"

Ash looked around and immediately saw the Aerodactyl only a few feet away. It was absolutely huge in his field of vision, blocking everything else in view, before it knocked him down in the gondola, and seized Latias around the neck in its talons.

It tried to shake Latias to break her neck.

"Hey! Get off her!" He cried out as he ran onto the prow of the boat and leapt onto the creature's leg. The Aerodactyl began to lift itself into the air. If it got away, there would be no way to save Latias.

"Pikachu, Thunderbolt!" He cried. He braced himself for the surge of voltage he was about to suffer. As the bolt screeched through the air, Ganon remembered something.

"Ash you idiot! You mustn't hurt Latias!"

However, the bolt had already connected, shrouding the three of them in thousands of volts. Aerodactyl released Latias in sheer pain, and she dropped like a stone into the water. Ash released his hold on the Aerodactyl's leg, and plummeted as well. The Aerodactyl remained airborne though, and flew up to circle around for another attack.

Ash resurfaced before Latias. As he cleared his airway, he looked around to try and find her.

"Latias?"

She surfaced immediately; she could not believe that Ash had attacked her. She fled as fast as she could, turning invisible.

"Latias!" He cried after her.

_Its too late now, she refuses to accept the pain you caused her. You should have just punched the Aerodactyl in the knee ligament. It would have been much less painful for her._

"Oh, shut up!" Ash snarled at him, "A fat lot of good you did."

_In case you haven't noticed, the Aerodactyl is coming back, so I recommend swimming. Fast._ Ganon told him, before turning to look at the oncoming fossil. It had indeed circled around above them, and was now bearing down on them. It opened it's mouth.

* * *

Images of the last time he had faced Aerodactyl flashed before his eyes. All he could remember was teeth and talons reaching for his neck, or more acurately around his neck. He bit down hard on the Aerodactyls neck, and pushed his claws into it's face. It reared in agony, before it tackled him into a wall. He grabbed it's arms and actively wrestled with it. He forced it into a wall, and kicked it in the chest. It was a low blow, but anything goes in war. It retaliated, and tried to fly above Ganon. He used his powers to get above it, and each continued to rise, taking the dogfight high into the sky.

* * *

Ash noticed the Aerodactyl, and immediately called over to Pikachu. The Aerodactyl unleashed its beam attack, instantly destroying the gondola, just as Pikachu had leapt off to one side. Ganon winced. 

_Dang, I'm not going to get my deposit back for that._

Now was not the time to think about that though, now was a time for survival. They both started swimming away from the concentrated beam that was churning the water behind them. Neither of them could outmanoeuvre the flying Pokemon for long though, as Ash was struck by the wave it caused, then Ganon shortly after.

* * *

Ganon was lucky. He was just flipped out of the water onto the comparatively soft bank, but Ash was flipped the other way, colliding straight with a solid wall, before falling into the water. Having blacked out, he wouldn't be able to swim. Latias flapped out of the alcove she had hidden in after the Aerodactyl had passed. She could see Ganon slumped awkwardly against the wall, but Ash was nowhere to be seen. Ganon suddenly leapt up, pointing at a series of ripples in the water. Latias understood immediately, before becoming visible, and diving in after Ash. She found him lying on the bottom of the canal, bubbles streaming from his mouth. She had to get him to air, before he drowned in his sleep. She picked him up, and dragged him to the surface. She shook his shoulders to try to revive him, something she had seen Ash do when he was trying to revive Ganon. Clearly it worked when they were still alive, as he soon began coughing and spluttering against her. Pikachu swam up to them, relieved to sit on something solid after just a few minutes of paddling. Ash smiled at Latias. 

"Thanks Latias."

She blushed and squawked happily, before swimming forwards with them. He smiled at her, before looking over her shoulder. The Aerodactyl was still circling above them.

"Ash! Over here!" Ganon called. Ash turned to look at him. He had run along the bank towards a pier, upon which sat…

"Latias, hold on a sec." Ash told her, as he swam towards the pier. He suddenly realised exactly what had gotten into his Totodile during the race as his eyes met the pair of water chariots.

"Ash, it'll be a lot faster than being dragged along." He said, as he leapt back into the water.

"Why are you not using the other one?"

"I'm faster than both of you on my own. I've got to give you a sporting chance!" He said, winking at Latias. He knew she had a competitive streak against him. Ash just shrugged, before a loud roar rattled through the street.

_Get a move on, the Aerodactyl won't wait for long._

"Ready Pikachu?"

"Pika!"

* * *

He set the chariot into the water, and gave one end of the leash to Latias. Ganon folded out two steel handles from the sides of the pack, and pulled them around his shoulders, so his forearms were folded up against his chest. He leant forwards to improve his slipstream. 

"Ready to go on three, okay?" he said as he turned to Ash. He just nodded back.

"One…" The Aerodactyl roared again, and fell into a steep dive.

"THREE!!!" he yelled over the noise. Latias lurched forwards, dragging the chariot behind her, and accelerated. Ganon gave them a second head start, then hit the throttle. The machine on his back sucked water in from the front, and jetted it out the back. He accelerated and instantly caught up with Latias. He rolled onto his back lazily and chuckled at her. She chuckled back and pulled Ash faster. Despite the fact that she was flying for her life, she couldn't help but be exhilarated by it.

_It's called adrenaline, Lani. It's what makes loops and dives so fun when you fly._

She really loved it when he used her name for some reason.

* * *

He could see the Aerodactyl behind them now. It was snapping its drooling maw a matter of metres behind them. He summoned a ball of energy, and hit the Aerodactyl in the wing with it. It just shrieked and continued flying at them. 

_Ooh, it's getting angry._

"Ganon, are you having fun running from a carnivorous predator intent on maiming us?!"

_Yes actually, he's being very predictable. He can't actually see us all too well; he could have avoided that ball easily. He is short-sighted, and I know because I made him short-sighted. Just give me a second to check. I need to ask Latias something._

Ash just watched as Ganon flipped back over and accelerated up to Latias. He could see that she turned her head briefly as he addressed her, and she squawked. Ash felt like his arm was going to be wrenched from its socket as she suddenly dragged the chariot through a narrow side canal. He heard bone splintering as it met building behind him. The wave from the body falling into the canal rocked Ash in the chariot.

"Hey Latias, we lost him!"

She squawked her joy at him. She was happy that Ganon had told her that the Aerodactyl was focused solely on her, so it was assuming them to go through canals that were wide enough for it to fly through. She noticed that Ganon had stopped jetting and was swimming normally using his flippers. There wasn't any drop in speed, but he did dive underwater instead for some reason.

* * *

_One down, but one more to go,_ Ganon thought to himself. They could do with some reinforcements of their own. Kabutops was a nasty piece of work. He scryed Brock and Misty and saw that they were trying to get to the museum using the streets. 

_Brock, you need to send Ash some Pokemon to help him. We defeated the Aerodactyl, but I can't protect him from the Kabutops._ He didn't question his request.

He looked and saw that Brock had released a Crobat, and Misty had sent out a Politoad and a Corsola.

_Well, I'd never use those pokemon, but okay. They look a bit stupid._

As they rounded a corner, Ash noticed a pair of yellow eyes staring at him from an empty corridor. He looked back briefly, and paled as he saw it start to race after them on the bank. Kabutops was on the hunt, and it could smell fresh meat. He slashed at the rope that Ash was holding onto Latias with repeatedly. It hadn't noticed Ganon swimming underwater, but he didn't need to. One of his scythes had overshot as it tried to slash the rope, and severed one of Ganon's air pipes. He was forced to surface. It would be pointless to continue to carry the SCUBA section of his pack, so he decided to jettison it. Kabutops didn't seem to care about the person that was now swimming behind Ash, to him it just looked like a Kabuto. He decided to make his attacks more brutal to teach the young one how to massacre properly. One of the fiercer attacks drew blood from Ash's arm.

_Now we're doomed. He can smell it. He'll go into a blood rage._

Ganon could see that Kabutops was breathing a lot faster and deeper. It was not going to stop chasing them, even when there was no longer any solid ground under it's feet.

When the path ended, Kabutops leapt onto a boat moored across the canal, jumping from boat to boat to prevent his immense weight from sinking it. The agility with which he was jumping was amazing. This Pokemon could have given Sneasel a run for its money when it came to speed.

Latias tried to use the same technique before as she had when trying to escape the Aerodactyl. She couldn't hear Ganon's comments over the sound of the pulse in her ears. She was terrified, but still exhilarated. It was clouding her judgement. She took the turning too wide, and Ash's chariot crashed onto the bank, leaving him cart wheeling before Kabutops jumped on him and knocked him flying. It raised one of its sickled arms, preparing to land the final blow and divide this puny human in two. Oh how the young ones pulp would taste in his salivating mandibles. He was lost in his own dreams of this gourmet feast before him when he felt a sharp pain in his side where a Crobat had just tackled him. He fell to the wall winded. Two other Pokemon surfaced next to him, the Corsola and the Politoad. Each of them were glad to see that Ash was still alive, and they attacked the Kabutops with Bubblebeam and Hydro Pump respectively. The ferocious combined attack picked up the Kabutops, and hurled it into the water. Ganon knew that they didn't have to worry about it anymore. He had ripped out its gills the last time they had battled. It couldn't swim.

"Thanks you guys." Ash said to the Pokemon as he put the chariot back into the water.

"Good race!" Ganon said as he stopped next to them. The lack of the SCUBA device now meant he had to travel at the surface. Ash stared at him.

"Well?"

Ash just looked at him, embarrassed. Every second you wait is another second wasted he remembered. He lifted the chariot back into the water, and sent the other Pokemon back to Brock and Misty as he took hold of the lead again.

"Come on, we need to get going." He cried back to them, he was impatient, and had swum a few metres ahead of them.

They began to swim towards the museum again.

* * *

Ganon was curious as to why Latias was acting so strange around him. He knew that she loved her, but surely she didn't find him _physically_ attractive. He noticed Latias looking at him slyly. 

_I can tell you're looking at me._

She faced forwards again, blushing heavily. She tried to sneak a peek at him again.

_No…_ He sighed wearily to her. This cycle repeated about another twelve times, mainly because she loved the sound of his voice in her head. He suddenly felt another presence watching him. This new contact felt alien to him, before he realised.

_They're scrying us with the DMA. That's annoying. Better annoy them back._

Ganon looked up to the point where the invisible eye was and stuck his middle finger up at the empty point in space.

Oakley swore vehemently when she saw it on her display.

* * *

Yes, Latias has fallen madly in love with Ganon, and he is still not accepting her. Anyone who wants this to end up as a romance will realise why not when I get chapter 11-12 up. If I keep going at this rate, that will be in about 10 minutes. 

But seriously, I... forgot what I was going to write... Dang.

UPDATED: Well, actually, I didn't need to do anything to this chapter, so I shouldn't really say Updated. There was only one thing added, and that was Ganon vs the Aerodactyl.


	10. The Powers That Be

UPDATED: The main update to this is that I've changed the date when I put up chapter 11 from 30th September, to TOMORROW! 23rd of September is when the gloves come off, and this time, literally.

Well, this is the penultimate chapter to when Ganon is truly revealed, and the THIRD UPDATE THIS WEEKEND!!! Again, I lack patience, but my next chapters are the ones I had scripted in my head before I started writing this, well, except for the addition of Ganon X in chapter 12...

Oops! Just typed in a sneak peak!

Anyway, usual warnings and disclaimers apply, I do not own turnips etcetra...

_Lateral Ganon_

# # # Chapter Specific Notes # # #

_Ganon can't bear to think in italics about the CSN anymore. He hates it more than the DMA_

* * *

**Chapter 10: The Powers That Be**

They were soon out into the main canal, and belting down the open stretch. Ganon had set up a more leisurely pace for Latias; he didn't want her to go so fast that Ash's arm would part company with the rest of him. Latias had got bored of eyeing up Ganon now; he couldn't be bothered to respond anymore. He was clearly deep in thought, judging by the fact he had crashed into walls twice on the way there.

_I wonder if I should tell them._ He thought to himself. Latias unfortunately picked up on this, confirming her earlier suspicion that Ganon was hiding something. She looked down at him slightly, as though watching his hair swaying in the water would answer all of the mysteries surrounding him.

_Good luck trying that, Latias._

She cringed as he addressed her directly.

* * *

Ganon suddenly felt something a lot more ominous in the water around them. He could feel strange motions in the currents of the water beneath him. First spinning left, then spinning right, then a long spike in pressure. 

_They are moving the water around with the DMA. Something is going to happen. And we are not going to like it. _He told Latias. She nodded. Despite not actually being in the water, she could feel it too. It was an instinct that she had simply because she was a Lati.

The pressure of the surrounding water suddenly dropped, and a dull roar emanated from ahead of them. Latias screamed as she saw the column of water rise in the ocean ahead of them, moving slowly towards the museum. She flew over to the edge of the canal, and crashed the chariot at the edge, so that Ash could jumps up the stairs onto the museum plaza. Ganon climbed up onto the side, and tried to run after them. He stumbled and fell on his face, giving him a nosebleed. He swore under his breath.

_Curse these flippers._

Latias looked back at him briefly, and was afraid to see him injured, but Ganon just scowled at her and pointed at the museum. She took off after Ash who was still running towards the museum. She decided that Ganon could take care of himself. Ash couldn't. She suddenly sensed a peak in the energy around them. The wave had crashed down, and was accelerating across the paved surface in narrow cables to catch up with them. The veins formed a square around them to meet in front of them. Where the water met, the column suddenly rebuilt, halting their progress.

She was confused to see Ganon rush up next to the square of water in his original clothing, with no sign of the injury that had plagued him before. There was no sign of the wetsuit or the flippers, so she assumed he had abandoned them at the stairs. He was shouting something that she couldn't hear over the roaring water. He was also beckoning them over to him.

_The sides are safe to cross over! Quick!_ He called over to them psychically. Or at least he thought it was safe. He didn't know that the energy around him had stopped them from hearing him.

He also couldn't tell that Oakley had been scrying him as he ran up to the side..

He didn't notice that at the edge of the square a small vein had branched off and was now forming a ring around his ankles. Suddenly, he felt the water form a lasso around them, and threw him into the centre of the square. He swore as the water closed in on them, whilst Ash and Latias screamed.

_It didn't even give me chance to take a breath! That cheating cow!_

He realised that Latias was their only hope of survival, but he couldn't reach her with his mind. He realised now that the energy in the water was also shielding his voice from her. He just had to hope that she could work it out by herself.

* * *

Latias just shut her eyes. She refused to believe they would die like this. Trapped in a vortex by the power of a tyrannical human moulding the power of Latios to her will. 

Latias let out a single tear which was immediately whipped away by the tempest. Her brother. She had failed him, just as she had failed Ganon and Ash, and now they would be doomed to die because of her.

She felt something boiling deep inside her. Energy the likes of which she had only known when she had attacked Ganon earlier, and when her father had began to teach her how to use it. She could feel it bubbling to the surface, lacing every cell with innate power. She opened her eyes and silver light shone from every part of her body. It encased her in a cocoon of light, growing by the second, until it dwarfed the column of water they were stranded in. The water encasing them shattered like glass. And even though she didn't know it, she had also shattered the display on the DMA. It was now out of control, and had sealed Latios's doom.

Ash, Ganon, and Pikachu all fell seven metres onto the ground, Ash landing on his backside, whilst Ganon and Pikachu had landed on their feet. Latias was still hovering in mid-air above them, light still radiating, but fading quickly. She fell from the point in space, and landed in Ganon's arms, as he had leapt forwards to catch her, and stumbled slightly. Ash ran forwards to her. She hadn't moved at all in Ganon's arms.

"Latias, are you okay?" Ash asked her, gently stroking the top of her head.

_I'm proud of you Latias. _Ganon said to her, in a whisper. _You've definately grown._

She immediately got up and hovered in the air as though nothing had happened.

_You see why it was so important that I trained you to recognise the energy in the Garden?_ She looked into his eyes, and saw nothing but pure love in them. She licked his face.

_Don't do that!_ She really wanted to lick him again, to show her own love for him, but decided against pushing it this time.

"We'd better get going" Ash said. Ganon suddenly looked up at the museum, as he could hear ear-piercing squeals through the doorway.

"Latias, you broke the DMA control panel. It is drawing Latios's energy away uncontrollably. He is screaming. We have to get in there now."

* * *

They ran into the museum, Latios's screams getting louder as they passed through the annexe. They stopped before the DMA. It was spinning wildly around its pivots, the Soul Dew spinning around it. They could see Lateral energy arching through the air around the DMA, a distinct purple edge to it as it snaked through the air. Annie was stood in front of the machine with her Espeon. She turned around as she heard the intruders. 

"Okay Pikachu, thunderbolt them." Ash yelled. Pikachu electrocuted them with such force that they blacked out. Ganon smirked at the unconcious creature on the ground.

_See how you like it, stupid cow_.

Ash and Pikachu rushed over to Bianca and Lorenzo to try and free them. Latias flew over to Latios's prison, head butting the containment field that was trapping him.

Ganon just stood and stared at the DMA. He was paralysed by analysing it. The amount of energy here was incredible. Considering Latios was providing every spark, he was amazed how one so young could handle so much.

_Definately taught him well._

He ducked as the control sphere swung low and would have swatted him aside.

_That would be a very unhappy ending._

Annie was starting to come around from the shock next to him. He just looked down at her briefly and ran back to Ash and Latias.

* * *

Ash had just freed Lorenzo from the webbing when Ganon arrived. 

"We've got to turn it off before it's too late." Lorenzo told them.

"To do that, we need to get Latios out of the retainment field." Ganon said. He heard Latias bouncing off the field as she tackled it again. He could see her crying.

"The field is resistant to all forms of physical attack, but it's not very resistant to elemental or special attacks." He added.

"Pikachu, try a thundershock." Ash ordered.

Electricity arched from Pikachu's cheeks as he attacked the field. The sparks played over the surface of it, before concentrating, and firing the bolt straight back at Pikachu.

"Good start. The energy displacement will…"

"Ganon, shut up. We don't understand it, so tell us in plain English." Ash shouted at him. He was surprised by Ash's sudden outburst.

"The... ball with Latios in will... come down a bit." Ganon said, struggling to find words simple enough for them to understand.

As if on cue, the ball did indeed lower.

"All right, let's get him!" Ash cried out as he tried to tackle the ball, with Pikachu joining in. Ganon just sighed at their idiocy, but he didn't comment. He'd just get shouted at again, and now would be a dangerous time for him to become enraged. He began summoning balls of negative energy and firing them at the field. They were being bounced off, but Ganon was bouncing them back. It had become a lethal game of tennis. When Latios suddenly let out a particularly high squeal, he knew there was a matter of seconds left. Latios no longer even had the energy to open his eyes. It was time to bend the laws of fate.

* * *

Ganon collated all the balls of energy together that had been fired between himself and the ball, and held it in both hands. He had to draw power from the air around the DMA, so he knew he would never be able to do this again. It pulsed twice, and suddenly everything went still. He had stopped time. 

_Certainly a handy talent. Even if it only gives me a few minutes._

The ball of energy hovered where he left it as he began to generate a new sphere. It was a purple ball which shimmered with an almost spiritual light and reflected the light emmited by the DMA. He walked up to Latias who was hovered in mid air, and opened the locket around her neck. He looked briefly at the picture of Latios with the baby Lani. He had scribbled the name of the Latios out. He placed the crystal in a niche where the neck of the Latios pendant was, and closed it again. Now the pendant was charged. He walked ball to the ball in the air that was holding time in place, and summoned a crystal claw around his hand. He jabbed into the ball, and shattered it. Time began to flow normally again. He quickly dispelled the claw.

* * *

Latias shivered as she suddenly felt an immense power build within her. She could feel it burning through her. She didn't know it, but the pendant was focusing her power. She began to radiated a silver light, and tackled the ball with every drop of power available to her, which now could rival Ganon on it's own. A huge flash of light burst from the point of contact, and when everyone's eyes had adjusted, she had stopped the rings with her neck. Ganon smiled. He knew that as he was, he wouldn't have been able to do that. He suddenly noticed that the gem in the pendant had shattered into a series of red sparks. 

_If those things start again, she's as good as decapitated._ He thought. He grabbed the rings to try to prevent them from moving more. They left deep gashes in his hands, sending a fresh wave of agony through him. But it would be worth it. Flesh healed. Life didn't.

"I've got to help them…" Ash mumbled, before running up to it with his customary war cry. He tugged violently on Latios' forearm, before Bianca and Lorenzo joined in, grabbing his foot and pulling. His limp form resisted briefly, and then fell out from the ball. The rings and Latias fell to the floor, clattering and cooing noisily from the impact. Ganon held the rings up so that they wouldn't land on Latias. He felt energy return to his limbs. He focused on the palms of his hands, and used the energy to heal the injury. The hand glowed light blue, shedding cyan sparks, before they faded out, and left his hand unblemished.

_Still got it…_

The DMA continued to rattle around noisily as it spun around on its axis. Each part of it slowly ground to a halt, as the energy arching from the base diffused into the air around it. The control bulb fell to rest just next to the bottom of the machine, opening to reveal Oakley slumped against the edge of the cockpit.

Ganon looked back to see Latias nuzzling Latios' unconscious form. As Latios came round, she smiled ecstatically, and nuzzled his face all the harder.

_Each other must be all they have left, just like me and..._ He shuddered as he remembered her.

"Oh Latios, you're okay." Bianca said, as she hugged Latios around the neck.

"Hold on a second, if he was okay, he would be hovering." Ganon told them, as he strode over to Latios, and kneeling down before his head. He ignited a spark between the ends of his first finger and his middle finger. He held it above Latios' forehead, and Ganon shook his own. He definitely had bad news.

"Latios has been almost totally drained of energy. I'm sorry. If he has to use any more power, his death is practically guaranteed."

"Ganon, didn't you say before you had a Blissey?" Ash asked him. He knew that Blissey eggs were superloaded with energy.

"Yes, I do, but it wouldn't work. I don't have her with me."

"What about your device? That can access the PC system."

Ganon reached into his pocket. He pulled out a glob of molten plastic.

"Can't you fix it?" Lorenzo asked him, "If you can use Lateral energy, then it can be used to repair broken objects."

"This device is beyond fixing. This came from my last universe. It would take a completely different energy source to even attempt it. Anyway, how do you know I can use lateral energy?"

Lorenzo pointed to Latios.

"He laughed shortly before the fossils left. It had to be you."

"Ah."

Misty and Brock had just entered the DMA chamber. They saw Ash and Ganon huddled over two Pokemon, and ran over to them.

"Are you guys all right?" Misty asked them.

"We're all fine, except for Latios. He is technically dying."

"What about Blissey?" Brock asked. Ganon fumed silently, how often was he going to have to repeat things?

"She's in the PC. And I can't get her because my device has melted." He shouted, then looking back to Latios, who seemed to have settled down well. He was resting his head on the floor. Energy regeneration was something that all Latios had as well, but it still took a while to kick in.

* * *

He could have sworn he heard someone moving behind him. He looked back up at the DMA, and saw that Annie was about to pick up the Soul Dew, which had turned black. Lorenzo also noticed the girl's action. 

"DON'T TOUCH THAT!" both Ganon and Lorenzo shouted together. It was too late. Her hand was already on it. She just looked at them confused. Ganon swore under his breath. Why did the villains always have to be so ignorant?

The gem began to glow under her hand, rays of light shooting between her fingers. The jewel started pulsing pure energy out its core, hurling Annie backwards, where she landed on Oakley who had sat up in the cockpit. It exploded in a series of red sparks, sounds of shattering glass filled the air.

The lateral energy that had saturated the air reformed over the surface of the DMA, lacing the structure with red ribbons of plasma. The cockpit around Annie and Oakley closed, trapping them, before it was pulled back up as the machine returned to its original position. The obsidian spikes that guarded the DMA before suddenly began to pierce out of the floor, moving erratically as they tried to return to their original positions. They each stopped randomly between the top and the bottom, giving the whole machine a look of being a ravaging claw sticking out of the ground.

One of the spikes had formed under Ganon, who was now clinging to the top of the only spike that had reached its original position.

_Just my luck_

He looked down to the party, about twenty metres below him, and laughed to himself. This shouldn't be a problem. He placed his feet over one of the corners of the spike, and surfed down the edge, like a skateboarder grinding on a rail. He held his arms out to steady himself.

"What's happening?" he heard Bianca whimper as he reached the bottom. The lack of concentration for even a moment was stupid, because the edge had suddenly taken a steep turn down, and he missed his footing. He landed hard on his front with a loud thud. Latios sniggered at him briefly. Ganon leapt up and glared at the Pokemon, who instantly shut up.

"The prophecy was true, the Soul Dew is dying. It's been out of the pool for much too long. All the water is leaving." Lorenzo told them.

_And you complain when I take the longwinded route to a simple point. Time is of the essence._

"Get us onto the roof." Ganon ordered. Now was not a time for subtlety.

"Why?"

Ganon just glared at Lorenzo. He let Lorenzo know that this person was not someone to be argued with.

"Up the stairs, all the way." He said.

"Think laterally."

Lorenzo pointed to the balcony 90 feet above them. Ganon looked up there, and leapt up to it in a single bound.

* * *

Ganon could hear their gasps of astonishment and he could also hear them running up the stairs after him. The water was leaving, and he knew that when tides go out very far and very quickly, something big would always come back. Something big, wet, and with the destructive capabilities of a Tyranitar in mating season. Basically, this made a nuclear bomb look tame. 

It was time to reveal some big secrets. Potentially fatal secrets. Fatal for him.

* * *

Well, because I've done three updates early, my next update will be in two weeks, Sunday 30th September. Well, that means I'm not going to get any readers until then. Dang. Unless I get impatient again. Which knowing me I probably will. 

Anyway. There should be enough to work it out if some bits are re-read. I know that in the next chapter, I make references to a lot of the things in the previous chapters, that hinted at his identity.

UPDATED: Well, I decided that Ganon has amazing powers, so why use stairs?


	11. Revelations

Well. Here it is. Chapter 11. I was going to wait another week, but I recently got inspiration for a new story whilst listening to my Roy Orbison CD (well, my mothers CD) More details about that at the end of the chapter. Also, I was bored with waiting. I'm amazed I even managed to go a week without adding the chapter, although I did update the rest of the story to cater for a plot hole.

Well, hopefully after this, re-reading it will reveal all of the subtle hints that were getting at this point besides the fact that Ganon points some of them out whilst he thinks about things.

Usual Warnings and disclaimers apply. I sort of own the Pokemon I say about at the end, but it's based on a Latios by shape, so it's a bit borderline. I also own the girl in the red dress. Sort of anyway. Other people have made different characters of her, but I own this instance of her character. It's very complicated.

Note that this is the first time where I will be wanting a certain amount of reveiws to continue the story. In this case, 15. So that's only three more. Shouldn't take too long.

_Lateral Ganon_

# # # Chapter Specific Notes # # #

_Words in Italics are Ganon's thoughts and telepathy._

_'Words in italics with Quotation marks are Latios's telepathy.'_

* * *

**Chapter 11: Revelations**

Ganon walked through the balcony window onto the roof, and he could still see the water receding, grounding boats in every canal, and whipping away any that hadn't been tied down. He waited for the others to arrive, by which time there was not a single drop of water left in the city. He could hear everyone else gasp behind him.

"It's all gone." Ash said, numb with shock.

_Yes we have all noticed, Mr Obvious._

"But I'm afraid it's coming back." Lorenzo said.

Everyone gasped at Lorenzo's statement. Even Ganon looked around at him.

Ganon dipped his head in thought. He really didn't want to have to do this. There was a good possibility it would kill him. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to think of another way around it. Suddenly, a new thought entered his head.

_I've died before, I can do it again._

That decided it.

* * *

Ganon arched his head back, and let out an ear piercing keening cry. Everyone else clasped their hands to their ears, wondering why on earth Ganon would act like this. He was mad. That was the only rational explanation. When he stopped, he could hear another distant cry echoing back. He smiled. 

The third fossil was coming.

* * *

Everyone else heard the replying cry. Now they just thought that _they_ had gone mad. None of them knew what it was except for the Latis, and Ganon. The Latis suddenly flew up to above the spire, circling it, before turning back to face the same direction they had been facing previously. They believed it was the echo of ages past, come to make them aware of their impending doom. They had to do something otherwise their beautiful home would be destroyed. They squawked towards the horizon as though it would help. 

"You two! Get down from there! You are only fledglings. You will not survive this!" Ganon roared at them. Regardless what they intended to do, he would not allow them to interfere. The situation was beyond either of them. They just looked at him incredulously. This human was barking orders as though he owned them.

'_Why should we listen to you? You are just a stupid human. You know nothing of fate.'_

_Latios. I know fate better than either of you. If you disobey me, I will be forced to subdue you.. You will obey!_

'_How dare you try to subjugate our will?!'_

_Because you are ignorant little fledglings. You are rushing blindly to your death._

'_I relish laying my life on the line for the city I protect, and the people I love.'_

_You as well then?_ He said to him, whilst looking at Latias.

A wave started to roar in the distance. A mighty tsunami had slowly started its advance towards the island.

'_Now is not the time to argue. Now is the time to act. Stand aside.'_

_Then I have to stop you myself._

'_Ha, this should be good for a laugh. I'm bigger than you.'_

_Wanna bet on it? You know nothing. You will regret arguing with me._

He dragged them back down with his psychic powers. They couldn't resist him, even though they tried their hardest. No-one could resist him. Ganon had had forty years to hone his skills.

_Now sit and wait like a good child, Loki._ Latios tried to bite him. Ganon was belittling him, regardless how he knew his name. Latias couldn't understand what was going on. She had been left out of their conversation, and just looked at Loki wondering why he was so angry.

They heard a scuffling noise behind them. They looked around and saw a girl with dark red, shoulder length hair which was slightly spiky,and she was wearing a red dress with a white chest piece. She looked the same age as Ganon, and wore the same type of glove as he did, except in red as well.

She ran up from behind them, and stood next to Ganon, looking into his eyes and smiling kindly. Ganon smiled back, unable to contain his joy at seeing her again. Only she would choose to dress like that. It looked as though she had just stepped out of the Victorian age, and he just loved her all the more for it. He took her in his arms and kissed her. It was a very long kiss for the circumstances.

Everyone looked shocked, especially Latias. She thought that she was the only girl Ganon loved, whereas here was some random girl that he had just kissed without hesitation. She realised why Ganon had scorned her affections now; he already had someone else. She began to cry. Ganon noticed Latias's discomfort.

"Lani, the person you love is but a shadow and a thought. I'm not who you think I am." She cried all the harder at this announcement, turning away completely.

Latios would have comforted her, but he was too intrigued by the new girl. Her dress made her look like a Latias. He was confused.

Ganon turned back to the girl in his arms.

"Oh, how I have missed you Laura."

* * *

"That's Laura?!" Lorenzo screamed. He knew it was impossible. He was sure only the Aerodactyl and the Kabutops could have been revived by the DMA. 

"It was a side effect that I had anticipated. Gestures aren't specific enough for that level of control, and Oakley brought my darling back as well. As she didn't bring her back intentionally, she wasn't under any control from the DMA. Oh my darling." Ganon nuzzled her gently, and she nuzzled back. She felt good in his arms once again. It had been much too long since before.

"But right now, I have a job to do, if you'll excuse me Lorenzo."

Ganon thumped his backpack with the bottom of his fist. It cracked open down the middle, shining an iridescent light. He took his Pokeball belt off and handed it wordlessly to Ash. He turned around, licking his finger to test the wind direction.

"You're going to do it again?" Lorenzo asked him, genuine worry in his voice. Ganon stopped dead in his tracks. He knew Lorenzo had figured it out.

"How long have you known?"

"Ever since you collapsed on her grave. No-one else would react like you did. We're glad you're back."

Ganon looked shocked, but then slowly, his face broke into a smile. He ran up to Lorenzo, and embraced him, clapping him heartily on the shoulder.

"Hey! Take it easy old boy! I'm an old man now! I'm not as fit as I used to be!" Lorenzo laughed out at him. It was good to have his friend back.

"What on earth are you talking about?!" Bianca asked him. Lorenzo closed his eyes and shook his head, smiling all the time.

"You'll see soon enough. Lani, you remember the name in the locket was burnt out?" Ganon said, looking up at Latias. She looked at him suspiciously, and nodded. He shot a bolt of energy at it, and it glowed white. Lorenzo recognized it as lateral energy. Ganon was fixing the damage.

Ganon took off his left glove, and held his hand so the back was facing the assembled party; there was a small spiralling rune. He leapt backwards of the ledge, towards the cold unforgiving plaza below. An immense flash of blue light burst from over the edge, tendrils of energy snaking through the air above it. It looked as though his backpack had exploded.

But Loki thought he had figured it out. Laura was dressed in the colouration of a Latias and she was a Latias.

Everyone rushed to the edge he had jumped from, except for Latias and Laura. Latias looked back at her own left claw and stared at the same rune. She now understood why Ganon had refused her advances. She cringed as she realised exactly who she had had a crush on. She understood why it was so wrong for her to love him in that way. She understood why he had died for her. She understood why he said he loved her, but not actually made any advances. She opened the locket, and looked at the picture of the Latios. The name was now clearly visible. He was the only Latios not named with an L.

Ganon was always dressed in the colouration of a Latios, therefore…

An immense Latios flew away from under the assembled party directly towards the oncoming wave. It was at least twelve metres long, and on his back there was a series of large metal ridges that had been split in two down the middle.

* * *

"What the hell?! Ganon is a Latios?!" Ash yelled out, practically tearing his hair out in disbelief. The little tufts floated slowly to the ground in the non-existant wind. 

"_A_ Latios?" Lorenzo scowled at Ash, offended by his understatement "Ganon is _the _Latios. He brought the water to our town. He is their father."

Brock fainted.

Latias looked to her left where Laura had come over, and saw she was glowing a blue colour, much like Latias did when she shapeshifted. Latias backed away from her quickly, as Laura regained her Pokemon form, which was just slightly smaller than Ganon's. She let out a keening cry, attracting the attention of the humans, and took off after him.

She caught up with him immediately. He had been in human form for so long, it seemed he was having trouble flying, she smiled gently at him.

"Oh it's good to fly again after so long being a human!" He said to her. He looked across to her in flight, and he smiled at her. She noticed something was wrong immediately. There was something forced about the smile, and something strained in the voice.

"Ganon, what's wrong with you?"

"What do you mean?"

"There's something wrong with you. I know it."

"It doesn't matter now. Nothing matters to me anymore. When I lost you, I had to shut the door to my heart to prevent the pain tearing me apart." Was all he said, before whipping his head back to hit the device on his back again. It exploded on his back in a shower of shrapnel over his back, spinning into the exposed seabed below. Two small tanks had been forced out of the main section, each housing a pair of rotors which were spinning slowly as he flew. A glow was building in them as they began to spin faster.

"You can't help me. No-one can. Go back to the museum. That's my final request."

It exploded again, and he rocketed forwards, leaving Laura behind. From her vantage point, she could see the two rocket engines flaming, leaving trails of vapour behind him. He knew that she was going to try and follow him, and he refused to let her die with him. It was his job, his duty. His inevitable Fate.

_Take care of the kids. You're the only one left for them now. They are growing up. They need a mother figure. I couldn't be there for them. Now I shall pay my debt. _

"Ganon!" She cried after him in vain. He couldn't stop the wave. He needed his love to summon the power. He was a shadow Pokemon. It was the only thing he didn't know anything about. He didn't know the risks he was taking.

_Laura…_ was the only response she heard back. She shivered as she knew he was doomed.

* * *

Ganon continued rocketing towards the wave, and his mind wandered to everything he had thought or lied about up to this point. He really shouldn't have, but it would still take a while to get to the wave. 

_The button on the jacket wasn't made of selenium, it was a regular button._

Annie had seen that Ganon was a Latios immediately. He needed an excuse to look human. Thankfully, she was too stupid to know

_I knew that Lani would take on Bianca's form; I could see her through the Soul Dew._

He could make them at will. They were manifestations of psychic energy.

_I can speak because I had time to familiarize myself with vocal chords. The locket was my own._

He had had Lorenzo get it custom made. It was built to accomodate a miniature Soul Dew in times of crisis.

_I was truly distraught for Laura's death, but I knew the DMA could revive her. That was what the symbol really meant. I was already compatible with Lateral energy; I just needed to shield certain aspects of it with the device._

His own powers already overshadowed the children's own, even in human form. If he didn't shield them, then he'd easily be identified as a Latios much too early.

And now, being in his true form, he had access to enough power to stop the wave before him. He called forth the energy that would be needed, and let it shine from his eyes. His love for his family would overcome all obstacles. Now was the time to right all that was wrong.

* * *

How he wished that was the case.

* * *

Suddenly, the light emanating from him turned black, shadows spiralling around him. He screamed as they flitted around his head, whispering unintelligible words to him in a terrible ancient language. They wrapped around him, cocooning him in a shell of black material. He flailed desperately to try and dislodge the case, before becoming paralysed as the shell hardened and contracted around him. White flames suddenly billowed from the device as the darkness tried to seep into it, causing the shell to splinter from the force of the acceleration. The cracks were audible even at the museum, and everyone had to clasp their hands over there ears from the sheer volume. It sounded like a series of peals of thunder, as shards broke off and span out of control, embedding themselves in the sea floor like gigantic spears. Ganon was no longer a Latios. 

"What's happening?" Bianca whimpered. She seen the shell surround Ganon but couldn't actually see him clear enough to make out what had happend. She screamed as the Lucario suddenly leapt out of it's Pokeball from the belt in Ash's hand. He leapt onto the edge of the balcony, and howled miserably towards the shape on the horizon. He always knew that Ganon was a Latios, and now he was about to lose his best friend. He could feel the gates of hell opening beneath them, and an immensly powerful entity was coming out. Something that he had fought to keep imprisoned there for his entire life. He knew it was time to defend the planet. He pulled a cord on his sash. Instantly, metallic fluid began to ooze from it, coating him. It solidified over his body into plate armour, and in his hands a pair of flails. It was time to battle the King of Demons.

Lorenzo didn't want to answer her. This phenomenon was unheard of, except in one instance long ago. Fear built in his heart as he realised his best friend from so long ago was almost certainly gone. He knew that Lucario was an incarnation of the god of the dead.

"He is tainted. We must hope that he still stops the water, but we must also hope that the act kills him. He has closed his heart to everyone, and cares not for anyone around him. He exists solely for his own gain, and will stop at nothing to get it. He has become a Darikos, Incarnation of All Evil."

* * *

Well, I've made up a new Pokemon. Next chapter is where I get to introduce Ganon X. Ooh hoo hoo! 

You can see what I mean by Laura being a complicated character to own, being the mother of the general Latios and Latios mentioned in a lot of fics. Darikos is my idea for a name (pretty lame, considering it's just a Dark Latios), but again, it's complicated due to him essentially being another form of a Lati. Incidently, the King of Demons is totally different from the Ghost King owned by Ri2. I know the names sound similar, but I don't intend for them to be. For a start, my dude has nothing to do with ghosts. He's a living organism, and is a dark/dragon type. Secondly, I've only had time to read up to chapter 3 of his fic.

Regarding my new story which I will be writing soon, it's about how Ganon and Laura meet in the first place. It should be a Romance (my favourite genre)/ Adventure story, but so far I've yet to add a single bad guy or enemy. Then again, it is early days, quite literally. It should cover quite a lot of Ganon's childhood, from the point when he was still quite scared of eveything. As well as some background about Laura. It wouldn't hurt to add a trailer would it? Yes it would. Oh well. Wait and see. It'll appear on my profile as in-progress when I start uploading it.

I just realised I need to tell you how Ganon has returned despite being killed during the original bringing of the water.

The intervention of fate mentioned in Chapter 9 was actually when he brought the water. The energy displacement opened up a temporal rift which transported him to this world, the human world. His powers remained intact, and he tried desperately to find his beloved, Laura, but to no avail. Another temporal rift bloomed later when he bought a Pokemon game, and dragged him back to the Pokemon realm.

I know it's a bit vague, but it's not really that important. It just means that I shouldn't get annoying questions, because these sections can't really be added anywhere into the main story, without sounding stupid.

As you can see, Ganon didn't do something stupid. He knew exactly what he was doing.


	12. Angels And Demons

Scroll down quite a long way until you see _'Chapter 12: Angels And Demons' _if you want to read the story immediately, just remember that this time Chapter Specific Notes is important. The intro bit here can be read later if you're impatient.

It's official. This is my longest Chapter at over 3 times longer than my 2,000 word per chapter minimum, and almost 1.5 times longer than the second longest chapter (Chapter 6). Just to remind people, this is a fourteen story chapter, so don't be put off at the end. Note again for Swack16 who brought this point up long ago in one of his reveiws for chapter 7, and made it awkward for me to continue: Ganon does not do something stupid. I've said this a lot of times before. Think about it carefully. Either way, it will become obvious once I reveal it.

Special Thanks to the following:

Holiday Open: For making the most relevant reviews. Readers were always meant to be kept guessing regarding chapter 7/8. I knew that Ganon was going to be Lani's father since before I wrote this, so every single interaction was built with that in mind, so rereading will reveal a lot more than original, particularly the reason why Ganon squeezed her claw at the end of giving her the amulet. Also special thanks for favouriting it, and putting it on the alert list.

Swack16: For the sheer quantity of reviews. Also, thanks for making it more awkard for me since chapter 7! Don't forget that stories I make later can be set _before _this one. Also thanks for favoriting my story.

Pokemon-Princess: For writing the first review. That's it.

Also, special thanks for those three others who favourited this story, but no personal mention due to NOT REVIEWING! If you want mentioning, you have to review!

In order to bring Chapter 13, I need a total of 15 **reasonable **reveiws. Something constructive, such as pointing out any mistakes, as it's too long for me to be able to check it and post it before my deadline hits. Chances are there will be quite a few.

Hopefully, quite a few points will arrive here that will be synoptic with my next story when I finish it. This was the longest chapter to write after redoing the story, whilst it was originally the shortest. The original fight was extremely boring.

Usual Warnings and disclaimers apply. I do not own the Master Sword or anything to do with Legend of Zelda, but I do own the symbol I replace the Triforce with, as I made it up myself from scratch. In fact, I put it on my Profile shortly before uploading this chapter! The blue sections can be ignored, the main symbol I mean is the black bit. I don't know about ownership of the poem-like inscription on the Twin Narcen blades, but I based the last half on the Elliot quote used in the Professor Lazarus episode of Doctor Who. I do own Oapert City from my other story.

ARGH! IT HAPPENED AGAIN! I was about to post this up, but when I clicked save, it said Login required, losing all the work!!! I HATE THAT! I'VE LOST HALF MY BEST ADDITIONS! Next time it happens... I'll probably end up putting my head through the moniter. Or maybe the chair. Yeah, the chair will be less painful...

Anyway, Enjoy. I know my character won't.

_Lateral Ganon._

# # # Chapter Specific Notes # # #

_Italics are thoughts. Italics without quotation marks are usually Ganon's thoughts._

**_'Italics with quote marks and bold are Darikos/ Ganon-X's thoughts'_**

**Regular Bold is Darikos/Ganon-X's Speech.**

Darikos, Ganon-X, X and 'the demon' all refer to the same character. It saves me from using the same name repeatedly.

Only Lucario can be understood by humans. Any Pokemon speech said in the proximity of humans otherwise is unintelligable. I just hate making Pokemon speak their names. I think it looks sloppy, as it carries no inherant meaning or emotion, with minimal addition to the quality of the story.

The very end of the page uses the same system, except it has been marked as a spoiler, because it is.

* * *

**Chapter 12: Angels And Demons**

"Laura. Take me out to Ganon. The demon has taken over his body, and it is my duty as a Guardian of the Dead to defeat it." Lucario yelled out. Everyone looked at him in shock. A talking Pokemon?

"Yes, yes, enough of the staring. I can talk. Deal. Some of us have jobs to do, and mine is to help the boss, defeat the demon."

"Your Boss? How?" Ash cried out. Ganon had too many secrets, and this Pokemon's powers were just another one of them. If Ganon was the head of some bizarre company, then he wanted to know. Lucario looked over at him, clearly deciding how much to tell the human. He holstered his flails into recepticles on his waist.

"Kenai died last month. Ganon is the new head of the Resistance as chosen by Kenai as he lay dying. By that power, we have to restrain the creature you called Darikos. His existance is only because of Ganons help in one of our experiments. Darikos was the tenth Pokemon developed by our research team; but the only one that survived. Therefore, he is known as Ganon X. His powers are an enhanced version of Ganon's own. But there is no time for that. If X is back..." He shook his head slowly, and turned to Laura, "There is no time to lose. Laura. Fly us out there. Articles of war have been put in place that have rendered any of Ganon's commands during the last two hours dismissable. Until X has been removed from Ganon's system, his status as Master Guardian has been revoked, rendering his command to stay with your offspring as null and void. As his mate, your status of death has been revoked, and you shall remain after the DMA has been negated. As his second commander in chief, you will obey my orders. If you resist, you will be subdued by force. Do I make myself absolutely clear?"

Laura looked at him briefly,thinking over her options. There was only really one, because she wanted to help Ganon as much as Lucario did. She floated down to the balcony level.

"Good girl." He said as he removed his flails. He wrapped the chains together, and grasped the single handle it now had. The metal melted again, and became a spear. He leapt onto her neck, and pointed it out towards the black shape ahead of them.

"Chaaaaarge!" He yelled, as she took off. The wind forced back was sufficient to hurl everyone back against the window. As soon as the wind died down, Lorenzo walked forwards again to the balcony edge.

"Godspeed, Laura. Godspeed."

She glanced back over her shoulder to look at Lorenzo.

_Thank you. _She thought as her wings angled back. She picked up speed exponentially, and quickly caught up with Ganon. The sight that greeted her eyes was revolting.

* * *

Every white area of Ganon's skin had turned black, and the blue sections were dark red, like blood. His head tufts had tapered to razor point, and the shape on his forehead had become a triangle. His eyes had turned a glowing yellow. The evil had overcome his body. 

But not his mind. He rebelled against the foreign nvader threatening his conciousness. He could feel something familiar about the presence.

_X?_

**_'Ah! You remember me, Brother. How long has it been since you locked me away in that godforsaken prison?'_**

_You are no brother of mine._

_**'Oh really? Then what family do you have then? Clearly not Lani, the traitorous dog, she eschewed her duty to Altomare. She sat and hid, posing as a human to go by unnoticed. Never once did she perform any heroic action to save anyone.'**_

_How dare you think about my daughter that way?! _He could feel the energy building around him. The hatred for this invader had sparked it. Laura and Lucario looked on amazed as the skin of Darikos rippled and started pulsing a black light. In a matter of seconds, it had grown to envelop him.

"Pull back Laura. That is pure negative energy. It can't be controlled by anything other than an evil creature." Lucario scrathed his ears through a gap in his helmet. "And of course Ganon as he's connected to him still."

"But won't Ganon's power be able to counter it?" She said as she watched the ball writhe.

"Ganon is not strong enough. No-one is. In a one on one battle, X will always... What the?!" The ball had suddenly shot a beam of white light straight at them. She swerved to avoid it, before it flashed out of existance. On the surface of the orb, there was now a slowly shrinking white patch.

"Ganon you imbocile." Lucario said, waving his spear at the ball below. "It seems he loves you too much. He _does _have the power to defeat X, but he can't control it. That beam should have remained concentrated in the ball. he is wasting energy. If he's not careful, he is going to wipe himself out. Because he's bound to X, I can't prevent his death without saving X as well."

"Can't we..." She screamed suddenly as a beam of black light shot out of the ball as well. Lucario smiled and laughed."

"Ganon just made a comment about his appearance. The only thing that X can't stand is comments about his apperance."

"Laura. Get away from the ball. If X is losing control too, this ball is going to get very big very fast."

She flew up above the wave as the ball collided with the front of the wall of water. It was boiling the water in immediate proximity, but was doing nothing as regards the progress of the wave. It even knocked the device straight off Ganon's back, piercing the ocean floor below.

* * *

**_'Silence Ganon. Your children are pathetic wretches. Even your son, Loki, directly disobeyed you. He refused to accept your authority over him, and his sense of humour is as filthy as his honour. He never once tried to help anyone on this pathetic island. He cowered in that garden, afraid of what might happen.' _**

_You know that is a lie! He refused me because I looked like a human. I had no right to impose my will on a free creature. And he does venture out of the garden. He was with Lani when she saved Ash Ketchum._

'_**Ah, the pathetic human child with the big dream, you have a habit of finding those. He also stood up to your obvious authority. He ordered you to use simple words which are below either of us. His own inferiority would be enough to seal his own death sentence, but his insubordination…'**_

_Is to be expected! He is a child! He has not yet learnt his place in the world. He may be prophesised for greater things, but he is still a child. Children make mistakes. He can't be expected to be able to understand my words…_

'_**Our words, Brother.'**_

_My words! And you are not my brother! You are my clone, empowered through the enhancement process by the deepest, darkest, most vile powers of the world. Your existance is meaningless and fuitile. You have nothing to do with me._

'**_You disown me? Your only brother?'_**

_CLONE!!!_

_**'You can not defy me! You will NOT deny me my right!'**_

* * *

The argument inside his head was building, Ganon attempting to fight off the darkness that was threatening to destroy him. The ball of energy that had formed around him was also expanding, draining more and more energy from Ganon. It had formed a swirling orb of pure white and deep black, marbling over the surface and could be seen now from the museum. Lorenzo was still shocked. The ball should have been entirely black. Clearly Ganon must have strengthened his will a thousand-fold at least since he had brought the water before. 

"Ganon is refusing to submit to the evil. He is fighting back with every fibre of his being." he said, although no-one was really listening to him. 'Now I know how Ganon feels sometimes' He thought to himself.

The wall of water had reached the manor where Ganon had taught his children to use their powers. It shattered under the immense force. Laura looked over towards it in horror. Debris was being strewn in every direction. She whimpered slightly.

" Laura, there'll be time to deal with the house later, you must pay careful attention. When the water stops moving, then we need to get in and help."

* * *

_That was my house! You destroyed my house! I shall destroy you scum!_

'_**Is that a challenge?'**_ Darikos's voice said tauntingly.

_You bet it is!_

The rolling waves around them seemed to disappear, as Ganon was transported to a strange place, built solely out of a mixture of black and white lights.

* * *

"Laura! The water has stopped! Now!"

* * *

Ganon looked around at where he had been transported to. It was a circular arena, swathed in shadows and rolling mist. There was no defiante surface to the floor, and it appeared as though they were hovering over a hole in the floor which led to the sky. He looked up to the opposite side of the arena. 

Before him stood a six foot tall boy with black hair hanging down past his shoulder blades. He was wearing a suit that mimiced Ganon's human clothing with the exception that he was wearing a red suit with a black waistcoat. The boy strode up to him confidently, and stopped a few metres from Ganon.

**"Come now! You can't expect it to be a fair fight if you remain in Latios form surely?"**

Ganon looked down and saw his usual coloration had reappeared.

**"Now, bow before death. Formalities must be observed."**He said in a mockery of Ganon's own speech.

"I can't bow to myself, X." He said. The firefight banter was all the usual tradition. It had happened hundreds of times before, and now each hoped that now would be the final time.

The demon smirked.

**"You** **have spirit yet. Such a shame that I shall crush it like a bug under my** **claws."** Ganon-X said as he stepped back towards his original position. He raised his arms into the air, and yelled.

**"And now behold! My true form! A form in which I can rule over the planet as the one King of Evil."**

He looked back down at Ganon and smirked wickedly. He arched his arms forwards, as though preparing to grasp an object on a plinth in front of him, and hunched over. He bared his teeth.

"X, you look like a complete - HOLY SHIT!" Ganon swore as the boy blazed an unholy red, flames billowing from every limb. The demonic flames billowed and roiled through the air, emmiting a cold maniacal laugh, gradually deepening in pitch until it became little more than a series of grunting noises. When the flames subsided, Darikos was replaced by a snarling demon at least three times his original height. It had horns corkscrewing out of the sides of its head, tapering to points. It was wearing armour of some mysterious arcane black metal, and was built predominantly like a Machamp with it's musculature extended to every single muscle. It's face bore a resemblence to a pig in the shape of its nose, but a cold a terrible intelligence radiated from it's eyes. Those glowing yellow eyes, staring out across the room. This was the true King of Evil.

"Okay, I get the gist, big demon dude..." Ganon said, stepping back, holding his hands up in mock fear. The demon smirked again, and drew two immense long swords, crackling with magical energy. Ganon recognised the blades he wielded, they were called the Twin Narcens, judging by the symbols engraved on the blade. In his Latios form, he could read them clearly. They were the same language as on the bases of the columns. He read the text than coiled around the blade, continuing through to the other blade.

"Alone in the eternal darkness, the bright blossoms shall wither. The world ends not with a bang..."

"But with a shiver and a whimper." Shouted Lucario from behind the demons back. It spun around snarling as the Anubis ran up to him, and leapt up his musculature onto the edge of his shoulder. X scrabbled at his back, trying to pull the dog off. It rode him like a rodeo rider, his helmet flying off from the force of the swinging. Lucario grabbed onto X's hair and held on for dear life as the beast continued to thrash. He twirled his spear around, and pointed it straight down at the base of X's skull. He stabbed down into the vile brutes neck with his spear, piercing through the thick skin. The demon let out a loud barking grunt and it's eyes bulged. It keeled over onto it's front, thudding heavily on the invisible floor. Lucario withdrew the spear, and wandered up to Ganon.

"See, that wasn't so hard was it. " Lucario said as he twirled the spear like a baton. Ganon just beamed at him.

"Thank you Lucario. Chances are, I wouldn't have been able to defeat that Demon on my own."

"You could have, but you'd need to have learnt how to control your powers better. They were flying out everywhere on the way here. Looking at you now, you are lucky to be alive, you still have a majority of your energy left. You'll need every drop to get the water back into Altomare. Even then, there's still a chance it will kill you. Just give me a moment, and I'll prevent you from being able to pass over."

The Lucario held it's palms together in front of it, and pulled them apart to show a glowing sphere. He made various complicated hand gestures over it. He suddenly looked angry, and made the motions again. he swore violently.

"One Two One Two Moxis Level Ten override " He yelled at the orb.

"Whats going on?"

"Something is very wrong. It's not responding to my overide, which is the second most powerful overide there is. The only one that supercedes it is... "

Lucario never finished that sentance as a mystical blade passed straight through his torso. It pierced through his back and jutted ridiculously out of the front of his chest. His black sash was torn and fell off his body. Ganon followed the length of the blade to the handle, and then looked up a hairy arm to stare in the face of a demon grining down at him, snorting as it laughed at him.

* * *

**"Do you really think I'm going to die so easily? To a pathetic stick? " **Ganon-X said menacingly as Ganon picked up the sash that Lucario had dropped on the floor. X withdrew his blade and Lucario's limp form fell to the floor, unsupported as it was. The body dissolved into small pinpricks of light.The sword spilt in half from hilt to tip as it was withdrawn from the holy body, and X threw it over his shoulder. It was useless metal now, as the Pokemons body had tainted it's inherant evil. Laura, who was watching from the edge, couldn't help but let out a sob as she saw him fall. The demon heard her, and immediately raised a hand. She was dragged screaming into the centre of the arena, dangled in the air in front of the demon as though she was a side of beef hanging in a butchers fridge. X leered at her perversly. 

**"Ah. Such a pretty little girl. How do you find them Ganon, hmmm?"** It said as it reached out to try to carress her face. She leaned away and tried to bite him when he persisted. He slapped her across the face. **"Red. Just my colour don't you think?"**

Ganon looked at the demon with a look of pure hatred on his face. He lashed out with his own arm, and released her from his bonds. She flew back down behind Ganon as the demon tried to grab her back. The demon curled his fingers back into a fist. Patience was a virtue. He was proud that he was capable of it, and that Ganon wasn't.

"How dare you. She is my wife you wretched spawn of hell. " He spat at the demon. He smiled.

**"Stop it, you embarass me with your compliments."** He said in mock blush. He grasped the handle of his other blade behind his back. Now that there was an obvious prize for their duel, things would get much more interesting. **"And now, you have had plenty of time to choose a transformation to attack me with, therefore, you are now locked to your current form."**

"Thats not fair! " Laura cried out from behind Ganon. He raised a hand and beckoned her to be quiet. He stepped forwards.

"But of course, I am unarmed. As I currently have the moral highground, you have to provide me with the weapons I ask for. " Ganon said calmly.

**"And what makes you think that I'm going to give you them? " **The demon said, grasping the handle harder.

"You have invoked the Law of Lazarus by killing Lucario. You will provide them, or I automatically win. I choose that sword you've thrown on the floor."

**"That lump of junk? "**

"Yes, that lump of junk as you call it. "

X laughed at him, and happily handed over the junk.. X sat back to watch. This was going to be funny.

**'You have one minute preparation time. Then I'm coming to kill you.'**

* * *

"Ganon, you can't be serious. We have to get out of here." Ganon patted her gently on the side. 

"You're underestimating me. It's happened a lot with Latias's recently, first Lani now you." He said as he smiled. "I have seen this demon before. He is not the first King of Evil, and no doubt he won't be the last. The first to use this form was a gerudo man called Ganondorf. He sought out a holy relic that would grant the bearers wish. To cut a long story short, he got his dearest wish, but the power eventually mutated him into that demon. A young pixie boy with the Master Sword managed to defeat him. Technically, it was a game, but the same should prove well here."

**"Forty seconds"**

"But you don't have the Master Sword." She whispered.

"But I do have you." He said as he kissed her. She blushed heavily, but he just kissed her again. She giggled happily, and she tried to push him away girlishly. She then watched him incredulously as he kissed the sword he had been thrown. It glowed briefly from the contact, then settled down.

"One step down." He smacked the sword against the ground, and split it in half along the middle completely . Now it was wieldable by someone much smaller than the demon. He twirled it around experimentally, and picked up the spear that Lucario had dropped.

**"Twenty seconds."**

Ganon held the spear up to the shattered half of the sword, and measured them up. Lucarios spear was much shorter, but at least it had enough power in. He fused it into the sword. Light flashed along it's length as the shattered blade reformed into a perfectly finished longsword. A royal blue hilt formed over the handle, and Ganon smiled as he saw the same icon that was on the back of his hand materialise on the chest of the sword.

"Ah! How are you my friend."

"Are you talking to the sword?" Laura asked. She was obviously confused. Ganon may have done some crazy things when they were young together, but this was just plain weird. Ganon looked briefly at his own arm. A feeling of numbness was spreading through it, but he decided not to tell Laura. It would only scare her to know what was happening to him. he looked back up at her, a solemn expression on his face.

"No, I'm talking to the spirit of Lucario that it carries within it. He was the best demon hunter of my platoon, his essence shall continue after death."

"Why do you look so troubled?" She asked. he shook his head, and kissed her again before turning back to face the demon. He settled into a defensive stance, ready to run when the timing allowed.

**"Times up. Here I come!"**

Ganon ran up to the demon. It swung wildly at Ganon, who sidestepped it nimbly. He spun around and hacked at the back of the demons legs. He reared in agony as he was hamstringed. Ganon ducked behind him, and hacked at the demons glowing tail. X spun around and swatted him away with his forearm. His tail was in agony, almost completly severed from the blow.

**"What did you do to that sword?!"**

"You shouldn't have killed Lucario. He's angry you killed him, and now he's back to rip you limb from limb!" Ganon cried out. X roared and lunged at Ganon, but in his humongous state, he overshot, hitting the ground behind him. As long as Ganon was next to him, the only danger he was in would be if he got stepped on. That wouldn't be too much of a problem, as he was zipping around as nimbly as an Aipoms tail.

Ganon backflipped away from X over the arching blades. He goaded X into swiping at him, and ducked back just as the blade was about to hit. Ganon laughed as the blade stuck in the ground. He ran up it's length and up the demons arm. This move would end it. He would plunge the sword into the demons skull. He raised his arms dramatically, sword pointing straight at the demons crown.

* * *

**"Ooh... bad move Brother."** X yelled as he fell onto his own back, crushing Ganon underneath him. The blade flew through the air and landed next to Laura. 

"NO! " Laura screamed, as she raced towards the combatants. She was blocked by a strange forcefield. She then noticed a lock of red hair on the top of the demons head. She suddenly remembered something that Lucario had said outside of the ball.

_The only thing that X can't stand is comments about his apperance._

"Hey! Ginger! Over here."

The demon looked over at her incredulously. He absolutely _loathed _anyone that called him ginger. It was practically an insult.

**"You dare to call me ginger?!"**

"Yes I dare." She said, fully hoping that the forcefield would keep him from attacking her. He raised his arms above his head, ready to lauch a death blow to cleave her in two. The forcefield was X's idea, so his prize wouldn't be killed by accident. If she was going to insult him, then it would be better for no prize at all. Ganon's death would be happiness enough.

**"I shall cleave you in two you wretched, pathetic, daughter of a..." **He was interupted by a tap on his shoulder. He was too occupied with Laura to think about it's implications, so turned his head to look that way. A ghostly Lucario was waving a very real sword at him, and thrust it straight through his forehead. X yanked it out, but it was too late. The damage had been done. He could feel the numbness spreading through him. He immediately returned to his normal form, shot Laura an enraged glance, and vanished into thin air. Laura immediately flew over to Ganon, who had transformed back into his Latios form. Every light in the arena turned white.

* * *

"X has gone. We are safe again, Ganon." 

He looked at her and gave her an odd expression.

"Who are you? I think you're pretty." he said, blubbering slightly.

"Well who else could you love so much?" She said giggling.

"How did you get here?"

"When you made a giant ball of energy shortly after the house was destroyed, the wall of water stopped moving. Lucario wold me to enter the ball, as that meant something."

"Temporary amnesia, you'll get over it soon Sir, it's just a side effect from the fall." Lucario added. Ganon immediately leapt up, and started clutching at his head. Laura would have rushed forwards to help him, but the ghostly Lucario shook his head at her. Ganon hovered back up, and turned to face her.

Ganon looked at her smiling.

"You're safe, thank goodness for that. But, why did you make such a fuss about him being ginger?"

"Lucario said the only thing that X couldn't control himself against was comments about his appearance. He looked absolutely grotesque. Also, he was making a mockery of my own favourite hair colour. I wasn't going to stand for that."

He turned to her and hugged her, forgetting the reason why the tingling feeling had arrived earlier.

* * *

He fell straight through her. She had closed her eyes, and didn't notice anything was out of the ordinary until she heard the thud. 

Laura gasped as he hit the ground next to her. Though they couldn't see it through the walls, the water around the sphere had fallen down, and was now just rushing safely back up to Altomare. However, the energy it took to fight off the attacks of the demon and enchant the sword had drained every last drop of power from him, meaning returning the water had drained every last drop from him. He looked at his own hands briefly, then closed his eyes. There was still something he could do for her. Something to remember him by.

Somewhere above them, soft music began to play. They all looked up to the ceiling, where a glowing ball was shining. Ganon and Laura smiled at it.

"Unchained Melody, sung by Roy Orbison." Ganon said, smiling to her.

"Our Song." She said, smiling.

"Our song was A Love So Beautiful remember?" Ganon said to her.

"Our first kiss." She said happily, looking at Ganon with adoration.

"We danced together, in that bar in Oapert. You remember?" Ganon laughed, "Back when we still thought the other was a human?"

"You looked so lost and lonely when we met. Remember the Gym?" She said, still smiling at him. Ganon rubbed the top of his head with his claw. Laura laughed gently at his motion.

"Yes! I do indeed!" He said laughing again.

"I feel as though I'm intruding." Lucario said, as he turned away and walked towards the other end of the arena. He picked up his sash and cradled it in his arms. Everything that he had lost as well finally dawned on him. There were no other Lucarios or Riolus left for him to worry about, as X had seen to that long ago. No, the only thing he would miss would be the sweet embrace of his own darling, the one who had made him the sash, his fiancee, the Marill in his research squad; Alicia. He hugged the sash tightly, letting out a long agonising sob; a stream of tears flowing from his cheek. Why did he have to let go to the sole fragment of hope left to him? He sat down, and kissed the sash. It was all he had left of her now.

* * *

Ganon and Laura listened to the ballad together for a while, tears growing with every note. It was so sad, filled with all the loss that they had suffered as they were apart. The sorrow suffused the air. It was the end. 

"My love…My darling…" He sang along with the song, looking up towards Laura. The sorrow in his eyes was unmistakable.

She suddenly noticed that Ganon's entire form was turning translucent.

"Ganon! What's happening to you?" She asked him, voice trembling as she reached the obvious conclusion. Ganon laughed weakly. He decided it would be best if he kept the conversation light hearted.

"I think you know what's happening to me, Laura."

"No, it's not that. You can't. Not now. Lucario has set it up so I stay alive once the DMA effects disappear. Surely he can do the same for you."

"No. X is still alive somewhere, and keeping me from dying would keep him alive too. Lucario would have to be alive to even attempt to save me anyway. I must go."

"No! You can't do this! I need you!"

Ganon groaned as he tried to sit up from the floor. She reached a claw out to try to caress his face gently. It was still solid enough to touch, but only just.

"You have Lani and Loki now. They can take care of you in my place. They've grown up well." He laughed weakly. "You taught them well whilst I was away."

"You can't die! I won't let you." She cried out, tears streaming down her face.

"You don't have a choice. Let me go. I have… failed you…" He said, groaning as the last of his energy was consumed as he finished the sentance. He was now only fuelled by his force of will, forcing himself to live. Soon, even that would fail, extinguishing his life like a candle in the wind.

Laura held up her left claw for him to see. The spiralling rune. He smiled at her thoughtfulness, thinking about everything it meant to them both. Everything it meant to them; the intertwined L and G. Laura and Ganon; Inseparable to the end.

"I love you, Ganon. Please..." She begged. His form was growing more ethereal by the second. Soon there would be nothing left to beg to.

"I… love… you… too… Laura. Good…bye…" He said. He suddenly drew a long shuddering breath, before he collapsed onto the floor again to move no more. Every drop of energy had been spent. Laura crumpled onto the floor, unable to accept it. She whimpered loudly.

"And this is where I come in, as the gatekeeper to the land of the dead." Lucario said as he walked back from the edge of the arena. He kneeled down before Ganon, looking into his open eyes. The spark of life had left them, leaving only the ruffled red iris, like a rose, accenting the infinitely black pupil. "Alone in the eternal darkness, the bright blossoms shall wither. The world ends not with a bang, but with a shiver and a whimper. Goodbye Laura, you've been a good friend. Please, take this sash back to the real world with you. I can't take it along with me, however much I want to." Lucario said as he walked over to her. She looked at it briefly, before touching it with a claw. It repaired along the split seam, and she lowered her neck so Lucario could put it around her neck.

"Take good care of it." He said before walking over to Ganon. He took his claw in his paw, and looked back over to Laura, waving a sad goodbye. "I'm sorry." Lucario said as he bowed his head to her gently.

_# # # The lonely rivers flow, to the sea, to the sea. # # #_

Laura howled with horror as Ganon's spiritual form disintegrated into a shower of cyan and gold sparks, scattering everywhere, and vanishing from view. Lucario's form soon split into smaller pinpricks of light.

"Have a good life Laura." Lucario's voice whispered.

_# # # To the open arms of the sea. # # #_

The white arena surrounding Laura dissolved around her, and she fell into the frigid sea below, but to her now freezing skin, the sea was boiling. The song was still playing in her head, fading slowly.

_# # # Lonely Rivers sigh, wait for me, wait for me. # # #_

She could hear his last words echoing in her head, as she hugged herself tightly in the water. She couldn't face going back to Altomare, there were too many memories associated with it. She remembered the statues on the pillars outside of the museum. They had been a gift to them after Ganon had brought the water to the town the first time. They were granite replicas of themselves when they were younger. Now it was all that was left of her darling. She hugged herself tighter, imagining it was Ganon hugging her, until eventually crying herself into unconsciousness, floated in the Altomare Sea. And in barely a whisper…

_# # # I'll be coming home, wait for me. # # #_

* * *

Well, you see why that review in chapter 7 was awkward, and why I always said Ganon doesn't do something stupid. He knew exactly what he was doing, at all times. With re-reading, they may become clear, especially since one of the first things I added is crucial next chapter. Well, three things really. 

Kenai is a character from my upcoming pet-project as detailed on my profile. A much more in-depth profile of Ganon-X will appear in it too, alongside Lucario (a.k.a. Moxis) and Marill.

This may need redoing, as I've been having problems with random lines being deleted. My blood pressure has dropped to something stupid, so I'm currently not thinking very straight. I'm now about 2 mm/Hg off being in a coma (92 over 57. I'm told comatose is 90 over 55, whilst regular is 140 over 80. Ouch.). I'll be fine once I get some sleep.

Note for Swack 16 again: Ganon-X is **BLACK HAIRED**.Only the demon form is ginger.

The next section is optional to read. If you want to keep the surprise, don't read it.

* * *

**# # # Spoiler # # #**

"Ganon. Stop struggling, you can't go back." Lucario said, as he pulled frantically on the Latios's arm. The gates of pearl were only a matter of feet away, but they couldn't get any closer. Ganon smirked at him.

_I'm not struggling, Moxis._

Lucario could instantly tell that Ganon had done something. He had beat the system once before, he was going to do it again. Lucario smiled. Ganon never left himself without options.

_I can't pass through the gate, because I am not dead. Take my claw. We have unfinished buisness._


	13. Resurrection

Well I've brought chapter 13 up early. Mainly because I want to really get started on my other story, and it'll be longer than this one eventually. I can't continue that one until I finish this one. Chapter 14 will be up whenever I get bored enough to finish it off properly.

Anyway. Anyone that was sad about Ganon's death should be happier during this chapter, judging solely by the chapter name.

Usual Warnings and Disclaimers apply. I was going to add a tribute for Swack16 for putting up so many reviews, and it would have gone as follows, as I don't actually know what he looks like:

#-#-#-#-#

A strange man wielding a large Katana suddenly materialised next to them, unnoticed by any of them.

"Bugger, I missed the ginger haired bastard," The person said. Everyone jumped and looked at him in shock. He suddenly dematerialised into another realm, and they just looked at each other and shrugged.

#-#-#-#-#

But I never found a good place to intergrate it with the story. Sorry about that.

_Lateral Ganon._

# # # Chapter Specific Notes # # #

Oh go away, CSN. The readers already know italics are Ganon's telepathic speech.

I've had to change a few of the previous chapters, namely parts regarding how he got the DS (C9) and the Sneasals Origin (C3). I re-read my story and they made even more plot holes. Sneasel no longer came from the DS.

* * *

**Chapter 13: Resurrection**

The crowd on the museum balcony were speechless. They had all seen the ball of light fade from existence, a dark beam shooting from it's depths across the ocean to the south. The evil had escaped to return another day.

"Ganon's hurt." Bianca cried out, her eyes welling with tears. She had never told him how much she liked him; even if it turned out he was a Pokemon she still loved him. Lorenzo didn't say anything, trying to understand what had happened. Last time Ganon had disappeared, the ball of light had shrunk infinitesimally small, before popping out of existence.

"No. I'm afraid Ganon is dead." He pointed at the dark beam that was making its way across the horizon, "He couldn't defeat Darikos. Last time he did this, he built up a spatial disturbance which I presume threw him into an alternate universe. At the very least, he was alive then. That didn't happen this time, and it's the only way he could come back." He eventually said. It had taken him a long time to figure that out. "I assume it's the way fate works."

Both the Lati children bowed their heads towards the sea that had claimed their father yet again. Latios was particularly troubled, but not by Ganon's death; the idea of Fate. Could he have done anything that would have saved his father? Probably not, but surely something could have been done to make sure that it wasn't in vain. The last thing he had ever done with Ganon was try to bite and rebel against him. He was ashamed at his behaviour now that he knew. He hovered back away from the group, trying to come to terms with the revelation. Maybe if he'd...

* * *

He shivered as he recalled their conversation. 

_'Latios. I know fate better than either of you.' _He had cheated Death before...

_'You are rushing blindly to your death.' _There was nothing to suggest it would kill _him_...

_'You know nothing.' _Ganon had a lot of secrets, so if this was another one...

His innate stubbornness suddenly flared within him, and he looked back to the space out to sea with cold fury. He refused to believe that Ganon could be killed. He had come back before; he had to come back again. He _had _to.

* * *

Everyone looked shocked as Latios flew straight through the crowd, and out into the open sea. His eyes were glowing, and Latias's eyes soon began to glow too. He had started sightsharing again. He wanted everyone to see if anyone was still alive after the storm. 

He flew low over the small waves, tucking his arms in to go faster. Shortly before he was about to turn back, rendering it a lost cause, he could see a shape floating in the water. It was red, and unconscious, sinking slowly. It was his mother. She appeared to have abandoned the fight for life without Ganon to make it worth living. He gasped in shock when he saw she was wearing Lucario's sash around her neck.

Ganon was nowhere in sight. Loki nudged her to try to wake her up. It took several agonising minutes, but eventually, she reacted to his touch. She looked up at Loki, and for a second thought that Ganon was alive. Then she realised that he was much too small to be Ganon, and cried again.

"Where is he?" Loki asked. Laura noticed his eyes were glowing, and realised he must be sightsharing with Lani. She could sense that she was relaying it to the humans, and it would be rude not to answer him. She spoke in English so the humans would understand. It hurt her throat to, but compared to the agony caused by Ganon's death, it was negligible.

"X came back as a demon" She then summarised the story of the fight, crying continuously. The humans sobbed quietly as she recounted the harrowing event, gasping as the events unfolded, "The demon pulled the sword out, but he escaped, vanishing into thin air. The energy Ganon used fighting it was too much for him and the water sapped the rest of his remaining energy. Lucario couldn't prevent his death because he was already dead. Ganon then turned translucent and…" She wailed loudly and couldn't continue. She still couldn't face up to the fact that he was gone. Loki just looked at her, groaning as he saw that her wing had crumpled under the impact of the water. A five-hundred metre fall tended to have that effect. He began speaking to Lani, hoping she could pass it on the humans effectively, as neither of them could speak human.

"Have the humans bring a boat. Her wing has crumpled, and she can't fly. I'll stay here to mark the position."

Laura curled up, and sobbed even harder, floating unsteadily in the water. Loki severed the connection.

* * *

Lani had been crying ever since she saw that Ganon had gone, but she had one final mission. As the oldest remaining Latios left, Loki was the new master guardian of Altomare, and she had to obey. 

She grabbed Ash's hat again in her mouth.

"Err, Latias, this isn't a good time to start playing." He said to her, before he noticed the tears streaming from her eyes. She flew down to the plaza below, and waved his hat at them.

"She wants us to follow her." Lorenzo told them.

"We've got to wake Brock up first." Misty cried out.

She poked him in the nose repeatedly. She knew from experience that it was a sure fire way to revive Brock. It was weird, but at least it worked. He sat up immediately, and yelled at the top of his voice.

"Latios! Ganon is a Latios!"

No-one had the heart to correct him that Ganon _was_ a Latios.

* * *

A small black Pokemon was just waking up in the PokeCentre, and stretched blissfully. She had had a good nights sleep, and was raring to go. She looked around the room though and noticed that everyone was gone. Even Ganon's backpack had gone. She shivered in anger. He'd forgotten about _her_. That stupid Latios had to go and leave without her! She could feel the anger building through her, coursing through her like molten lead. She leapt out of bed and landed on the balcony edge. She looked down to see that the boat Ganon had hired was gone. She raged even more. He was everything to her, ever since the day he'd used his psychic blast to save her from a gang of savage Mankeys. How he could just abandon her was just despicable. She vowed revenge, and leapt off the Balcony, landing against the wall on the other side. She bounced between the walls like a ninja, spurred on by her fury, seeking out the avian that she could use to find him. That would be strong enough. She laughed to herself. Thoughts of revenge always gave her a happy feeling.

* * *

Latias continued to lead them down towards the dock at the front of the island. She hovered over a boat, and dropped his hat in it, before pointing out at Latios, who could be seen silhouetted against the very early sunrise. 

"She wants us to row out to him." Ash said.

_Well duh! Everyone had already worked that out, Mr. Obvious._

"Did Ganon just speak?!" Ash yelled out loud.

"It was probably just wishful thinking Ash. Especially if he referred to you by a name." Lorenzo said, patting him gently on the back. He could understand that Ash's emotions were in turmoil now, as Lorenzo had lost his brother to the Kabutops on the day Ganon had brought the water. He was certain that he had heard his brother talking to him as well.

"No way! You're talking as though…?" Brock started, but from the look on the faces of everyone around him, he could understand immediately. He looked back down at the Pokeball with Ditto in it.

"So you're the only thing left of him." He mumbled absently to the Pokeball. It just continued to sit in his palm, and it rocked once. He tried to open it again, but still it refused to open. He strained as much as he could, but the stubborn lump of metal still remained firmly bolted.

Ash looked down at his shoes, and saw Pikachu stood there besides him.

"At least you're not a figment of my imagination." He said, smiling gently at the mouse at his feet. Pikachu smiled back, speaking his own name in reassurance.

They got into the boat, with Lorenzo getting in last, as he was the best rower in the group. He paddled the group out, rowing towards the Latias guiding the way ahead of them. It was a long and arduous trip, but he believed it was worth every drop of sweat.

* * *

The Sneasel watched angrily as she saw the humans row out into the ocean. Ganon wasn't with them, so obviously he'd gone and done another stupid selfless act again. She scowled and leapt off the boat she was sitting on, and wailed in a strange squawking voice. A familiar bird pokemon fluttered down by her side, its eyes oddly blank. She got onto its back, and flew up above the boat. She would follow them for as long as it took. Ganon was hers, not any-one elses. The seeds of madness started to bloom in her mind.

* * *

By the time they reached Laura, the sun had just risen above the horizon, casting a beautiful array of warm colours across the sky. Laura was floating in the water, apparently unconscious again by the way that Loki was nudging her side again. She didn't want to wake up. Without Ganon, life was worthless to her. 

"Laura, where's Ganon?" Ash asked her. He got no response. He tried again. Still no response. She closed her eyes tightly, trying desperately to ignore the human.

He turned to Lani, who could see the anguish in his eyes. She could tell he needed to know what had happened to his friend. They all did. She decided to talk to her mother using telepathy.

"Mother. Can't you see exactly how much he means to all of us? Please. Where is he?" She asked, her desperation clearly evident. She still got no response.

"Mother! We need to know. Tell us!" She said whilst poking her repeatedly.

Ignoring her daughter wouldn't work anymore; she would continue to pester, just as she did when she was a baby. She smiled slightly at the memory, but it was soon overshadowed.

"He's gone."

"We know he's gone, but _where_? You need to sightshare with him, so we can see where he is."

Laura refused to accept what she was hearing. She didn't want to see where Ganon had gone. He had become a shadow Pokemon, so his afterlife would be a dark and demented place, filled with demons and savage beasts of bloodshed. She couldn't bear to imagine Ganon flailing in the inferno.

"Do it yourself."

"I can't. I'm not strong enough to sense his presence."

Laura remained silent, tears still streaming from her eyes.

"Loki, make her see sense, please!" She argued with her brother.

"Mother, as the master guardian of Altomare, I command you to sightshare with him." He commanded. She scowled at him.

"Why do you want to see it?! It will be a twisted nightmare! He was a shadow Pokemon."

"I don't care! He did it for us, you know it, so do it now!"

She resentfully activated the power. The group was enveloped in purple light, as the psychic field enveloped them. Laura closed her eyes, afraid of the horrors that she would see otherwise. Fortunately, only the Latios's eyes needed to be open to sightshare.

* * *

The sight they got was of their own boat, from the front. Ganon was looking straight at them, only a matter of metres away. They could hear strange laughter. It sounded very much like... 

"What the hell?! That's impossible!" Ash swore as the sight met his eyes. Laura had been expecting screams and shouts of 'Stop!' and 'Have Mercy!' as they saw the countless demons brandishing toasting forks and flaming whips. She warily opened her eyes. She saw exactly the same as everyone else.

She immediately dropped the connection, and everyone stared at the spot where Ganon should have been. Surely it was too good to be true.

"It's empty; nothing there but the open sea." Bianca said.

* * *

Everyone was amazed as a small pillar of water rose out of the sea, twisting sharply, and forming an aquatic image of the boy. It smiled at them, and walked across the surface towards their boat, leaning on the prow. 

"Are you a ghost, or…" Ash began.

_No, I'm just using the water to make up a recognisable image. Only the dead can be ghosts._

Everyone just sat there speechless. Ganon looked over at Lani, more specifically, the amulet around her neck. The Soul Dew fragment he'd placed in it had reformed.

_Don't forget. I know fate better than anyone. _The water construct said, smirking at Loki.

He pointed to a space about two metres from the right side of the boat. Something was floating half in and half out of the water.

_Such as that. Two miracles._

"Your backpack? But that's only one." Misty said

_Like I said. Two._

"Did you fail Maths at school Misty?" Said a familiar voice from next it. On closer inspection, it turned out to be a blue Anubis Pokemon.

* * *

"Lucario?! Laura said you'd died." Ash screamed. He hated zombies. 

"I was, but I'm better now. Ganon managed to rebuild enough of my organic energy to fashion me a new body. It's not perfect," Lucario said as he held up his hands. They noticed that the spikes on the back of his hands had distorted heavily, now resembling a pair of screws rather than cones, "But I'm not complaining. If anythinng, they hit a lot harder!"

Loki flew over to it and pulled it out of the water, dragging it along the surface onto the boat, with Lucario hanging along behind it. He climbed into the boat and shook the water from his fur. Everyone held up their arms to their faces, but they still ended up drenched. Lucario looked at them and laughed slightly, before setting Ganon's backpack up against the front edge of the boat. He pulled a lever underneath one of the ridges, and it opened into its two segments. Various complicated symbols adorned each piece.

"Ganon, you do remember that you weren't supposed to use this unless it was an emergency..." Lucario said pointing a finger at Ganon.

_Isn't being almost dead enough of an emergency? _Lucario curled the finger back slowly, realising just how stupid his question was.

"Good point actually. Let's see… You definitely sure all of... Them are on this boat?"

_Well…_ He looked over at Brock and Lani. _Yep, they're definitely here._ He made sure only Lucario could hear him as he sat down on the prow of the boat. He nodded, and walked over to Brock.

"Do you have a Pokeball that does not open?" Lucario asked him enigmatically. Brock shivered at the little smirk the Lucario was wearing.

"Why?"

"Ditto's have a genetic memory, they can remember the last thing they transformed into. The last thing that that one transformed into was Ganon, and we need his genetic fingerprint to fulfil the body criteria."

"You're not going to kill it are you?" Brock asked nervously.

"No! Of course not…"

Brock gave the ball one last look, and handed it over. Lucario stroked the ball gently along an invisible line the same as Ganon's rune and it opened. The Ditto flopped out onto the deck and looked around. As soon as it saw Ganon's watery form, it realised why it had been released, and held one of its gelatinous arms against a plate on the device. A light winked from red to green. One down, two to go. Lucario transferred the Ditto to a regular Pokeball and handed it to Brock.

"There, now you can keep the Ditto."

Brock looked back at the Pokeball, and smiled. Now that it was openable, his dream of being a pokemon breeder could finally be realised. He clipped the Pokeball to his belt.

"Ok, and next…" Lucario turned to face Lani, extending an arm. "The locket please."

Lani saw his motions towards the locket, and clung to it all the tighter. She was loathe to surrender it, now it was all of Ganon she had left. Even if she could see him right there, she still couldn't bear it if it broke.

Ganon walked over to her, and glared at her. She glared back, sill clutching the locket to her chest. He furrowed his eyebrows at her, and she could feel the anger growing in him, but she continued to clutch the locket with every fibre of her being. He wrenched the locket from her grasp easily, and strode back towards the boat despite her obvious distress.

_Lani, for once can you use some logic? Remember I said this was the most valuable thing to me? It is more valuable than you realised. The Soul Dew fragment I put in it anchored me to the world preventing my death._

He put the locket into a moulded indent, and the machine closed, forming the ridged shape again. Another light flashed from red to green. Ganon held his arms behind him, and the water making up his form collapsed, leaving a single spark of gold in its wake. The spark moved to a point just above the device, and sank into it, causing it to rumble ominously. Every ridge twisted around to form a single metallic ball, and chimed a single, clear note as the final light switched to green. The Resurrection was ready. Lucario tapped the side of the ball three times, and the entire structure turned into crystal.

"One-Two-One-Two- Moxis- Override. Activate."

The device began to rock, shaking the boat violently, and threatening to throw everyone else out. Lucario pressed a button on the side, and the device hovered about three feet above the surface of the deck. It was still rocking and spinning wildly, but at least the motion didn't affect the boat. They could see gold and cyan sparks playing over its surface, and Lucario recognised it as the reverse of his disintegration. Laura was looking up in awe; the light show was beautiful.

* * *

From the second she saw the huge Latias, she knew that Ganon was never hers. She hissed angrily at it. Now was the time for all things to end. Everyone else was too preoccupied with the flickering lights to do anything about it. If she couldn't have Ganon, nobody could have Ganon. She dived.

* * *

A mighty blast of dark energy shot through the sky as Sneasel appeared on the back of the Pidgeotto. The ball collided with the device, and it fell to the deck. Everyone looked at the oncoming rodent with utter revulsion. She had effectively killed her own master. 

"You bastard!!! You just killed him!" Ash roared at her.

She didn't care. She was maniacal.

The three remaining Latis all rose into the air, surrounding her. She grinned dementedly, she had a type advantage against all of them. One dark pulse and they'd all be out of the picture. Then it was time for the claws to come out, and she could carry out her fantasy of having a stuffed Latias head. What she didn't notice though, was that Loki, who had sneaked up behind her, had Lucario on his back, warming up a fire punch. The flames twisted and roiled around his paw, rising in intensity as the flames were re-shaped by the whorls in his spikes. The temperature in the flames was building so much it was glowing white hot. He thrust the limb straight into her back, and twisted. She was trapped on his claw, as he wound it up for a final throw. He built up speed, the Sneasel little more than a black blur on the end of his hand, before he twisted his hand the other way. She flew off at speeds that would shame a jet fighter, eventually coming to land in the ocean to the east of Altomare.

* * *

She struggled against the water around her; the water was matting her fur, making it impossible to float. Ganon had never taught her to swim, because he knew she hated getting wet. She struggled for thirty minutes before she was eventually overcome with exhaustion, sinking like a stone.

* * *

The group all huddled around the broken machine on the boat. The mass of tangled metal was leaking oil like it's life-blood as it lay there; and with it, Ganon's final chance for survival. 

"There's only one thing it can do now," Lucario said, "Ganon's very essence is trapped in there; trapped forever." He stifled a tear with his paw. His best friend had gone to the only place he could not follow.

The machine whirred once, and belched out a column of sooty smoke. A drawer opened at the bottom of it. Inside was a new full sized Soul Dew. Ganon was gone; condensed into a single giant Dewdrop. Only the locket remained, minus the Soul Dew fragment. It had fallen out when the top of the device had been crushed by the impact. Ash picked it up, and put it back around Lani's neck. She opened it and looked at the picture of Ganon. She noticed the look of sorrow on his face for the first time, as though he knew exactly that he would have to leave her eventually.

She remembered Ganon's parting words on the day she had been given it.

_I will never let you go._

But now he had. She felt alone in the world again as Ash cradled her head against his shoulder in a warm embrace. Lucario was sobbing too, as the blood of the Sneasel ran down his arm.

* * *

Ha! I don't know if you were expecting me to kill him again, but at least nothing can be assumed in the next chapter! I can finally have a chapter that could do absolutely anything with! Woo Hoo! 

Anyway. This is a _fourteen _chapter story. So soon it will end, and I can focus more of my time on 'Stranger'.

It's fine to read the Spoiler from last chapter now. It was better suited to starting off this chapter.


	14. Oblivion

This chapter was originally over 7,500 words long, so I've cut it in half to two 3,500 long-ish chapters. That makes this one a fifteen chapter story.

Specifically to Amal and Zed from my school: If either of you tell anyone else at school about this story, I can guarantee you'll be on a one-way trip to Sarah. This is the sort of thing that would go around like wildfire, and as you two are the only people that know both my real name and my pen-name, I know who to blame. I will not tolerate it at all. You have been warned. On another note, don't actually review it here. Tell me what you think IN PERSON.

I'm not very happy at the minute. The main issue is, I've been asked by someone I should incorporate more romance, which although I'm happy to, I don't have any real experience in the matter. Another person wants me into making this one quite a ride, which makes me want to outperform myself, meaning I can never be satifsfied with what I put down. I've also suddenly realised why it's a bad idea working on two stories at once. I've ended up swapping some points between them, and confused myself in the meantime.

It's now official, I've fallen in love with a fictional character. LAME! Why did I have to go and fall in love with Latias? I'm going to be haunted now whenever I read a fic with her in it. WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH! That's all my faves gone pretty much.

This chapter is also very troublesome for me because it's almost an M. If you are likely to be offended, please do not read them. However, if you are fine with a Blaziken kissing Ganon passionately, it shouldn't be a problem. If the rating would need to go up,tell me because I'm not good at identifying boundaries. I really don't want to lose this, but I don't want to write M rated stories.

I've been working on this chapter for about three to four hours yesterday, and another six or so today (7th October) so I'm too tired to check through it anymore. Chances are, there will be quite a few mistakes.

Either way, hopefully enjoy.

Warnings: Same as usual, plus the stuff above about Blaziken.

Disclaimers: I own Sarah the Blaziken.

_Lateral Ganon_

# # # Chapter Specific Notes # # #

_Ganon's telekinetic speech or thoughts._

* * *

**Chapter 14: Oblivion**

Lorenzo paddled the boat back into Altomare. He wouldn't cry now, there was time for crying later. The only consolation was that there was an earthly remain now, so he could be laid to rest properly.

* * *

Ganon could feel himself falling through a black abyss. Thousands of miles passed in the blink of an eye, as he descended further and further through the depths of Hell. He landed heavily on his back, crying out in agony as the rough ground burnt him. He levitated off the scorching surface to look at another creature stood before him. There was an almost demonic red pokemon stood there looking at him curiously. It had long flowing hair behind its head, turned grey from the ash that had settled on it through the millennia. Its arms ended in flesh rending hooked claws. It was about the same size as him, but when he looked around at the room he was in, he noticed that he had been shrunk down to its scale. The master of death looked at him with a strange look in its eyes. 

"Ganon! How nice for you to pay a visit at last. I have been waiting for you for so long!" She said in a flutey voice.

He gulped, afraid, as he looked at her. She was the reason he was so keen to avoid death. She was going to truly make it hell for him.

_Sarah. We meet again at last. _He eventually managed to say. She beamed as he remembered her name, even though she was a Blaziken now. She twisted a lock of her hair around one of her fingers whilst looking down at him with a look that Ganon suddenly recognised: Need.

* * *

As they arrived at the docks, Ash picked up the backpack and carried it gently in his arms behind Bianca and Lorenzo. They were returning Ganon to the garden. 

The device beeped once in an almost terrified tone, and they all turned to look at it. Nothing else happened besides it dribbling some more oil onto Ash's leg. He ignored it. They continued the procession, through the plaza, down the streets towards Lorenzo's workshop. They entered through the secret door, and entered the beauty of the Garden.

Being Brock and Misty's first visit to the garden, they were amazed by the beauty of it, but it still didn't alleviate the sorrow of Ganon's departure. A lone Pidgey flew from the tree tops as they approached the fountain, and not even a single breeze wafted through it. It was deathly silent, the only sound being the sound of their feet, thudding heavily against the ground. Never before had the garden possessed such a foreboding atmosphere.

They huddled around the fountain, with the Lati children hovering just behind. The backpack had been placed to one side of the fountain. Lorenzo took the Soul Dew out of the machine and placed it in the fountain. A light suffused through the fountain as the water began to flow through it again.

"It's perfect, just like the old one." Misty said, trying to keep the topic lighthearted.

"How can you know? You never saw the old one in there." Ash said to her. Misty broke down into tears at his phrase. She remembered Ganon crying in the Pokemon centre when Ash said that. Almost the same quote he had used.

"We now have a new guardian of Altomare." Lorenzo said, fulfilling his role.

"Or at least the old one again." Brock added as an afterthought.

"Oh, whatever! You know what I mean." Lorenzo snapped. He was traumatised by it too, and didn't want reminding that he had lost his friend all over again.

* * *

Sarah walked up to Ganon's form struggling on the floor, intending to stroke his head softly. He lifted his head up and snapped at her viciously, but she was fast enough to get out of the way. She winced slightly and wandered back away from him. 

"Touchy... So. You've been avoiding me. Now why would you do that?" The Blaziken asked, sitting down in a throne. Flames were coiled around it like snakes, and she petted them affectionately. "How long have I been dreaming of this moment, when we would finally be together again. I have waited for you a long time darling."

_We never were together, and don't call me darling. You were just the stupid little coffee Torchic that was crazy for me, that always wanted to be loved because she was abandoned by her trainer._

"Silence!" She snapped, "You do not know what you're talking about."

_I know very well what I'm talking about. I was there when they brought you in remember. They gave me the case file, and it was only because of me that we allowed you to live and gave you the coffee job. If it wasn't for me, you would have been obliterated as was company policy. You owe your entire life since then to me, so I should be the one making threats, not you._

She looked at him confused.

"Threat? Love isn't a threat."

_It is from you. Your idea of love is deadly. Every time you came up to me..._

"You would just push me away!" She interrupted, tears streaming from her eyes before being driven to steam by the temperature, "Your constant refusal's hurt me deeper than any wound I had ever suffered before at the hands of my trainer. I went out of my way just to see you pass by in the corridors. Every movement you made made my heart flutter with dreams of us ever being together. I loved you Ganon! You were everything to me! Why did you have to be so cruel to me?"

_I have never loved you, and I never will. Why should I feel anything for you? You were spiteful and malicious to your other co-workers, even after X arrived when we couldn't afford any more casualties. Every time I had to step in to stop you from causing serious injury. You were too violent. You loved causing pain, and from what I can tell, you still do._

She scowled at him. She didn't like his reasoning, and she was even angrier at his promise to never love her.

"Well if you did fall in love with me, I would have changed for you. But no, you had to go and fall in love with that damn Latias, and dash my dreams to pieces. Do you know how special you made me feel, going out of your way to come to me? That was the closest to a meaningful relationship I could have with you! That's why I attacked them. It was because you would come over, and actually talk to me. I craved your attention more than anything else! I relished hearing your voice. You were my whole world!"

Ganon scowled back at her reasons for inflicting such wanton destruction. He knew that he meant a lot to her, but that was simple murder. He felt disgusted at her obsession for him.

_You vile creature._

She blushed at him.

"Oh stop it! You're too kind!" She said, holding her hand out as though to bat him away. He made no motion towards her at all, and she scowled again when Ganon snorted at her presumption. She decided to try a less direct method.

"I've got some new pets. They are rather good at tormenting and torturing my inmates. They have such an appetite for destruction," She scratched her chin thoughtfully, and smiled, "I don't know where they get it from."

_You. Where else._

"Oh come now! You're being too flattering."

_That's not flattery, it's true._

"Now stop it!" She giggled, "Do you think its easy being the master of death? Almost every day, I find Pokemon desperately trying to take my place. Lucarios were the worst. They claimed divine right to my throne, and sought to take it for themselves." She rubbed her claws together in sadistic glee, "I roasted them."

_But Darikos killed them, not you. The case files..._

"And so I wanted you to think. I may just have been coffee staff, but that doesn't mean I'm incapable of manipulating computers." She said to him while winking. She had him where she wanted him; utterly confused as he tried to come to terms with this revelation. She picked herself out of her throne. Time to make the first move.

_You killed my best hunters? _Ganon said in numb shock. He couldn't even think, and he was practically pinned to the spot, as he looked at the Blaziken.

She smiled seductively, and wandered over to him, shaking her hips slightly as she walked. You didn't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out her intentions.

_Whoa no! I have a wife and children! Get away from me! _He cried out, holding his claws out in front of him to repel her. She shook her head, and continued towards him, smirking evilly.

"Hmmmm... No, I think I'm enjoying myself too much to just stop now!"

He backed away, but a wall was blocking his progress. He tried to take flight, but some power in the air was weighing him down. He was trapped. She took his head in her hands, and kissed him on the lips.

To her, it was like heaven, but to Ganon, it just confirmed that this was definately hell. A burning sensation flared through him, as he remembered what his own father had told him. Never kiss a fire type. Ever.

_AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!! _

The burning sensation ignited into a full flame, and he became overcome with inexplicable rage. He lashed out and tried to slash her in half with razor sharp talons. She somersaulted back out of the reach of his claws, and smirked devilishly.

"You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that!" She said breathlessly. He growled at her menacingly, and lashed out again. She dodged it effortlessly.

"Oooh! You're a fighter I see. Come on then! Let's duel, baby!"

_DON'T CALL ME BABY! _He bellowed at her with as much venom as was possible, before lunging at her again. _I WILL DESTROY YOU, FOUL BEAST OF HELL!_

"Aww, Ganon, I didn't know you loved me so much!" She said smiling at him.

* * *

The group looked at the Soul Dew in the pool incredulously. It had changed colour. From its original blue, it was a strange sort of angry purple, with blazes of red swirling through it occasionally. 

"What's happened to it Lorenzo?" Ash asked. Lorenzo just shook his head in confusion. He didn't have a clue what was going on, as this had obviously never happened before. It just looked as though there was an extremely fierce conflict of some sort bubbling within it.

"It looks angry. Real angry. This is on scale with Misties levels of..." Brock didn't finish that sentance as he suddenly found himself upto his neck in the ground as Misty had clobbered him with the hammer. Ash and Lorenzo backed away nervously as Misty turned towards them.

"Don't you _ever _talk about Ganon like that. He's not an angry person, he's just..."

A roar surged from the Soul Dew and they all looked around at it to see it had turned black, the central flame burning and spinning wildly. Someone was a lot more than angry. Absolutely murderous would be more appropriate, but still a considerable understatement. Misty winced.

* * *

Ganon opened his mouth to fire a Luster Purge at Blaziken. That should be enough to stop her in her tracks. He felt the familiar tingling sensation and prepared to hurl a bolt of light straight at her. The resulting shockwave would eliminate her own lust for him; hence the name Luster Purge. 

He belched loudly, and she giggled girlishly. He had no idea what had happened, as it was supposed to fire a burst of light, rather than various gases from his lunch the day before.

"There's no point trying to use special attacks here, I've blocked them all. Looks like you have to get physical!"

_You filthy bastard._

"Thank you, I do try." She said smiling. He lunged at her with his talons again, and at the last moment arched around to knock her over with his wing. She arched back and avoided both attacks simultaneously. She laughed and continued to dance around him. He swiped at her again, but she gracefully pirouetted around it. It was pointless. In her own domain, it would be useless to try. The heat was making him dizzy, but it was only enhancing her own abilities. He'd have to try a different tactic, using her only weakness; himself. He began to pant, and hovered back down next to the floor. Any lower, and he'd roast his own backside. Judging by the acting, he'd grown weak from the heat, and had settled down to recover. Thankfully, Blazikens did not possess any form of psychic power to spoil the illusion.

"You're mine, darling!" She cried happily, closing her eyes. She flung her arms around his neck and kissed him again. He didn't bother to resist, and surprisingly, he parted his lips willingly, allowing her free roam. However, if she had known anything about Latios physiology, she would have realised exactly why Ganon's temperature was below freezing point, and why his body weight was shifted dramatically to his left. He'd just have to hope that Lucario was watching the Soul Dew carefully so he wouldn't have to endure this too long.

* * *

The Soul Dew flame burst bright red in the fountain. To the humans, with their inferior eyesight, they just saw a vague shape, but Lucario, who was still watching it intently looked at the silhouette it had formed in horror. 

"Damn it! She's back!" He whispered to himself whilst he leapt off the fountain into a low hanging tree above it. The humans looked up at him as he clambered along the limb with the agility of a Furret, and settled on a high branch beyond their sight. They looked to each other and shrugged.

He looked back down at the fountain, and crawled along the branch until he was directly above the Soul Dew.

Lucario opened a pocket on his sash, and pulled out a strange hand-held. Ganon's DS _wasn't_ actually unique anymore. Once he had brought it back to the Resistance, they had reverse engineered it. It's powers to bend the laws of physics had been helpful before... now it was time to try out the DS Mk II.

"Okay... Case file, case file, case file... Ah! Sarah... Blah de blah... where is it... ah Sp Block. Right." He opened up a side menu and tapped an option with his hand spike. For some reason, he always lost the stylus.

A bright beam of metallic blue shot down from the gem cradled in it's top and into the Soul Dew, through a focussing lens that was cradled in the top of the iron cage. The gem flared with blue light, almost blinding the human spectators. Lucario smiled. help was on the way.

* * *

Ganon raised an arm behind her, and hugged her close. She squeaked from the sudden pressure, but then relaxed again and enjoyed it. She couldn't believe her luck, and hoped that it wouldn't end. Her own love for him was clouding her judgement, but as far as she was concerned, she was just enjoying what she could get. 

He gently caressed her neck, as she continued to play with his tongue. He looked around her shoulder at his claws and smiled into the kiss as he could see the cold glint of steel forming around them. Someone up there had got the message, and had overridden her special attack lockdown. He rested his hand between her shoulder blades, and turned his head around as though to deepen the kiss. She obliged happily, and leant forwards into him. Had she thought about it, she would have realised it left her wide open to...

He punched the steel claws straight through her back.

She screamed as the claws cut the flesh, immense pain cleaving through her. The damage was so severe she'd only have a matter of hours left. He pulled back away from her, and smiled at the look of horror on her face. Then again, anyone seeing a Latios with two heads would be horrified. The head she had been kissing became a blur of blue light, and moved over to where his right wing appeared to have been missing. She scolded herself for not noticing Ganon's shift in weight.

_Did you really think I'd give in that easily? You forgot that Latis can shapeshift. You've just spent the last several minutes kissing the end of my wing. Now, let me go back to my darling. If you accept, I shall allow you to be healed. If you refuse… _

She looked up at him with a murderous expression on her face.

"If I refuse, you will be trapped with me here forever!"

_Oh no. I can escape, it'll just take longer. However, if you don't let me, then I shall do what I should have done a long time ago. _He said. She just looked at him scathingly.

"You wouldn't dare." She said with as much bravado as was possible. Ganon was a very honourific Pokemon, and would never attack an opponent that was down, let alone a female. Ganon smirked.

_Oh! You really think that? For you, I've made an exception._

He held his right arm out at her and shapeshifted it. She screamed in terror as she was now staring down the barrel of a Blastoise's water cannon.

_Game over. Let me go, or else. _

"Fine! Get out of my sight!"

_Finally. One of my... friends... should be down soon. Make sure you have fun. _He said as he returned his arm to normal. She nodded, smiling slightly as she wondered what he meant.

He felt his form flying back up through the abyss, up to the cyan sky above. He could hear her shouting from down below him as she realised exactly who she was losing.

"I'll have you yet Ganon! You're mine! Don't you forget that!"

_Sure. The day hell freezes over. _He laughed back at her. Being a fire type, she could never bring herself to actually freeze the place.

She screamed angrily at him. All those years of planning had come to nothing, but still… she did have eternity to wait. At least she was proud that she had patience, something that Ganon had always lacked, and always would. He couldn't even stay down with her for half an hour.

* * *

Well. That's it. Nothing else really to say, except that I won't continue this until I get either 30 reviews, or until I've got a lot more of _Strangers in the Night_ done. Probably the latter because not enough people seem to have enough interest in the Latis. 

A very special note though, I've finished the pictures of Lucarios's DS, because Swack16 seemed confused about where the gem was, and it's actually quite hard to describe it as it cuts through it. This is to clarify what Lucario's one is, even though it only vaguely resemble a real DS, namely, this one has no buttons as Pokemon have different sized fingers. Heh, that's what happens when you get it reverse engineered by Pokemon! They were done with CAD ( computer aided design), so they should look a bit more realistic. The gem in this case is _another _miniature Soul Dew. They're copy and paste rather than actual links, which is a shame. Judging by the story guidelines, these are fine to add.

Open view of DS: http://img45.imageshack.us/img45/8743/sdsmkiiopenviewrg1.jpg

Cosed view of DS: http://img164.imageshack.us/img164/4217/sdsmkiiclosedzp1.jpg


	15. Paradoxes

I finally managed to get this chapter finished, and boy it's ine hell of a chapter! This is about two sevenths of the entire word count. at just over 18,000 words. This is my longest _ever _chapter, and it'll be quite a long time before I come up with one to rival it.

There's one slight drawback to this. There are some themes in it briefly that may push this up to an M. Please tell me if I need to change the rating, because this has taken me _over a month_ to get right, so obviously I don't want to lose it.

I made a big change to the story for this. Ganon and Laura aren't 12 metres long anymore, they are four metres long. Anything else in the story previously that refers to a length of twelve metres replace it with four.

_Lateral Ganon._

# # # Chapter Specific Notes # # #

_You know what Italics mean. Don't pretend you don't._

_'These are a child's telepathy.'_

_**And this is Moxis's Telepathy.**_

RPGs use food as a method of restoring HP. Sarah uses the same method in this chapter.

Eons can look backwards without turning their heads. (X- 'Zuh? What's the point of that?') So I don't drown someone. Now go down the page and look menacing.

Anyone who hadn't realised it already, Ganon can understand Pokemon speech. I just don't like writing a pokemon's name down repeatedly and calling it a language.

Upon promotion, Ganon wasn't made the _leader _of the resistance. He's just high up in the power chain. I've changed that to sort out a hierarchy issue.

* * *

**Chapter 15: Paradoxes**

…

Ash thought he heard something, but then decided it was a figment of his imagination. It was too weak and filled with static to be anything substantial.

……

It now sounded like a male voice... but he was sure it was just wishful thinking. Ganon was gone. The new Soul Dew was proof of that.

………

That was certainly persistent though. He never knew his imagination to play up like that, even after his cookie bender when he was eight.

A booming psychic voice suddenly bellowed at him, bowling him over. Now he could hear it clearly. It sounded almost exactly like Ganon.

"What the hell?" Ash suddenly yelled out, clutching his ears in pain as though it would help. Everyone turned to look at the boy. He must have gone mad with grief.

He could sense someone rolling their eyes, and his attention was drawn to the ball. Considering it still contained Ganon's essence, surely that's what it must have meant. He thought back to the previous night, when Ganon was making an adjustment to his backpack.

He had turned his backpack over, and fiddled with some red dials. If Ganon already had the power, then he hadn't changed it to become compatible with Lateral Energy, he must have restricted it to allow sightsharing to work. An inhibitor in other words. Ganon was tough and he was certain that this was what he meant. If he was wrong, well, there wasn't really any other option.

Ash aimed a kick straight at the device beside the fountain.

"Ash! No!" Lorenzo shouted at him, but it was too late. The kick had connected. Lucario looked down at the group in alarm at Lorenzo's shout, and leapt out of the tree landing perfectly on the floor below. He ran over to Ash and watched the ball move.

It rolled off the edge of the balcony, and hit the floor. It cracked open along one side, and a small red crystal fell out. It vibrated briefly before shattering completely. Lucario smiled knowingly as he recognised exactly what part had come out.

* * *

The machine gave an immense lurch. More oil spilled out of it, and it was making a horrible grinding noise. Lorenzo hurled Ash to his feet, and pinned him up against a tree. 

"You stupid boy! You are defiling a sacred body! What the hell do you think you're doing?!"

Ash pointed back at the ball. Lorenzo continued to fume silently at him before he felt a tug on his arm.

"Lorenzo, you want to see this." Lucario said, also pointing at the ball. His gaze followed the line made by his finger, and he gasped.

Something in it had caught, and it started rattling heavily again. The grating noise continued to tear at their eardrums, and it began to spin slowly along its axis.

It picked up more revs, and the noise grated even louder than before. Bizarrely, the dented sections of the device were pushing themselves out, fixing every crevice and crushed plate on it. Lucario wandered up to it to stabilise the rocking ball, only to get swatted away as an immense pulse of energy radiated from its core. Dust clouds billowed briefly and settled, revealing the ball to be almost completely unblemished. Lorenzo suddenly started laughing.

"Ah! So that's why!"

"Ash, you broke the inhibitor." Lucario groaned as he pulled himself out from the tree behind them. "He needed to inhibit his powers in order to be able to communicate properly with the small Latis."

"So that means…"

Oil suddenly spurted out in a great torrent, forcing Lorenzo back and coating his overalls in a thick slick, before the hole was immediately patched up by the power that was fixing the rest of it. They could hear the fluid rolling though the device, but it sounded as though it was topping itself up. The noise became smoother.

The device shivered and expelled a lump of black material, which they recognised as Sneasel's Shadow Ball.

The machine picked itself up in the air again, and began to spin so fast the lights on the side were a blur, exactly like it had almost half an hour ago. It transformed its entire structure into a translucent form of the ball, before it reverted its entire being into pure energy. Red plasma arched from it to the ground, burning streaks into the grass below.

"They're single use devices. Its conversion to energy means that Ganon will not have pieces of metal stuck in him this time."

"This time?" Ash asked.

"Don't ask."

Spectral tendons grew from the surface of the ball, shaping the streams of energy into a recognizable form; it was humanoid and six foot tall.

"He's alive!" He hugged Lani happily as the shape almost solidified. Almost. It soon flickered out of existence again. It formed the image of Ganon again, then flickered again. There was still something incapacitating it. A trace of Sneasel's Shadow Ball was still remaining in the device, holding Ganon back.

* * *

Far away, in the ocean east of Altomare, the Sneasel had finally drowned, its soul expiring and wrenched to the depths of hell. Sarah looked up as the dark type plummeted to the burning ground, and smiled as she realised what Ganon had meant. She descended on the hapless creature. 

"Dinner time."

* * *

The shadow taint burnt out in the device as the Sneasel's soul was obliterated, and the ball flashed a brilliant red, scorching the retinas of the humans watching it. None of them could see what was happening as Ganon's form suddenly sparked. Light flowed across the surface of the shape, until it coated the entire structure. The cocoon broke off accompanied by cracks, as Ganon stepped out of it, eyes closed. He shook himself off to dislodge particles in his hair. Lucario couldn't help but feel apprehensive as he could sense a difference in his Aura. 

Everyone else stood there dumbstruck. The sheer shock of seeing him resurrected was enough to paralyse them. They'd all given up on him. They stared at him with wide eyes and open mouths. It was as though he had never left.

_Well well, a welcoming committee. How thoughtful._

Lucario growled at him. Something wasn't right. Everyone else thought nothing of it and ran over to him, Bianca screaming ecstatically as she ran up to kiss him on the lips. He smirked as he could sense her coming. This plan was coming to fruition. The only thing he wasn't counting on was a certain someone interfering.

When she got there, she felt cold metal pressed against her lips. She opened her eyes and looked in front of her. Her eyes crossed as she looked at the sword sticking out the ground at a crazy angle. Her sight followed the line from where it had been thrown and she saw another Ganon stood on a tree branch above them, a defiant look on his face. She looked back at the Ganon she was about to kiss, and he opened his eyes, smirking evilly. They were bright glowing yellow.

* * *

X pulled back and laughed evilly at Ganon, who was leaping from branch to branch to the floor. 

"X. We meet again." Ganon said, strafing around him as he pulled the sword out of the ground.

"For the last time Ganon." X said in a low undertone. Ganon slowly turned back to face his impostor.

"Yes it is. But only one of us shall live to see another day. You shall not steal from me any longer."

"Oh I don't think so. You see, I still have options. You however, do not."

"Then enlighten me. Tell me why I only have this one option." Ganon demanded, raising the sword to X's face. The demon laughed softly and he looked down at his own chest.

"You want to know why you don't have options? I can assure you you don't want to know."

"Tell me." Ganon demanded, pressing the point of the blade into X's neck.

"Well, brother..."

"Only Clair can call me brother."

"I have that right by birth. She has that right through adoption."

"You weren't born. You were created."

"And my creators used and betrayed me."

"No we did not. Everything that has made you what you are happened after you escaped."

"What do you know of the torture? The pain? The abstract misery I was put under whilst I was in that godforsaken tube. Only Laura brought me any comfort."

"How did you know Laura then?" Ganon asked through gritted teeth.

"Oh. When those creatures came around to inspect me after my creation, she was the only one to show pity."

Ganon gritted his teeth. X was dancing around the point. He thrust the sword forwards, the pressure from the tip enough to draw blood from X's neck. He backed away from the blade slightly.

"Take better control over your emotions brother. As you see, I am unarmed."

"You are never unarmed."

"Well that's my bluff down the toilet." X whispered, "As always, you are correct. I am not unarmed. However. I would think twice before killing me."

"To give you chance to escape. I don't think so." Ganon growled, teeth clenched so close together they looked like a solid whole.

"Well maybe for once, you had better think. Because in this instance, it's not just your life on the line." X said, taking a step back from the blade. Ganon was too stunned to notice before X activated a psychic field to encompass the whole group.

The vision around them changed. They were no longer in the garden, but out to sea, above the rock that used to carry Ganon's manor. The view that he was presenting was of Altomare, looking towards a point high above the city.

"Your beautiful city. Standing proud against a perfect cloudless sky, a jewel of the ocean." X began, "A town seeped with tradition, history, and legend. A tourist hotspot from across the world, day in, day out, visitors swarm through the streets. Such an idyllic little hideaway from the rest of the world, but that's all it is. A hideaway. Some day, the world will follow and find you, and when it does, you can't escape. You are backed into a corner whilst the hungry beast looms before you. No way out. No chance of survival. And..." X swivelled the point of view so it was facing the sea, a small red shape floating in the water. Ganon gasped.

"Laura!"

"No hope of rescue." X concluded, plunging his hand into the front of his own shirt. He pulled out a small black amulet of the deepest jet. Its shape was a simple sphere, but the nature of the stone seemed to draw the surrounding light into it. X gestured back at the vision of the cityscape they were shown before. They looked up to the point above the cityscape to see a black sphere hovering above it, arcane glyphs swarming over its surface. The sphere began to fragment and grow, shooting shards of darkness down into the city. Everywhere the shards struck turned into a warped shadow of its former self. Another bolt shot down straight at Laura's floating form, striking her squarely in the face. Ganon covered his face with his hands to shield his gaze from the hideous mutations that wracked her form, although no amount of protection could shield him from her screams of distraught agony.

"Brother. In ten seconds, this will happen. You can however save one of them. Make your choice. Your city, or your love."

Ganon looked around to see that X had dropped the psychic field, showing him the sight of the garden again. He looked up to see that a black sphere was indeed looming over them, although it's pulsing made it look as though it hated the waiting that was forced upon it. Ganon looked around at the garden before shrugging his shoulders.

"Well that's a bit of an easy choice. It's not my city."

"Ganon! You traitor!" Lorenzo cried, but it was too late. Ganon had already transformed and taken flight, abandoning Altomare.

* * *

Everyone watched as Ganon flew out of the Garden. Even X was slightly surprised by his actions. He looked over at Lorenzo. 

"Is he really that gullible?" He asked.

"Shut up." Moxis yelled at him. X smiled and waved the orb at him.

"Or else what?"

"Or else... I'll growl?"

"That's hardly going to make me want to stop." X said, before crushing the orb in his hand. The sphere in the air above them quivered and pulsed, before spreading over the entire town. It had begun.

* * *

Ganon heard the crack of thunder above him, and looked up to see the shadow beast bearing down on him. Ganon spun around in his tracks. 

"Lampshades at the ready."

* * *

Lorenzo looked up at the Shadow Sky above them and watched helplessly as shards broke off and rained down upon their city. Everywhere the shards touched turned into a twisted shadow mockery of its original. Like most things from the realms of evil, it was ruthlessly efficient, and would only take a matter of minutes before there was nothing left of Altomare. Terrified screams could be heard from the streets behind the walls of the garden, their excruciating wails of pain filling the air. 

Bianca and Lorenzo were huddled together, as were Ash and Brock. Misty was just looking at X contemplating whether or not to throw her hammer at him, and Lani had hidden underwater. Loki hadn't moved since before X had arrived, and was worrying Lorenzo slightly. In actual fact, Loki was meditating.

It was almost an instinctual memory. Locked away deep in the heart of his mind. Loki repeatedly attacked the barrier shielding it from him, intent on finding the secret hidden within it. Again and again he dove, the blockade weakening with each hit, yet still holding firm. He screamed and dove at it bringing the full force of his will to bear, and shattered it into fragments, releasing the power hidden within it.

Loki yelled a savage war cry as blue light danced across his body. Finally the one ability that had always eluded him was his. Shapeshifting.

* * *

Ganon was having a much harder time. He had finally found Laura floating in the sea, but the shadow beasts claws were only a matter of metres away. He surged into the line between the tendril and Laura, blasting at it with a hyper beam. The tendril disintegrated as the surge coursed through it, burning right down to ashes. Ganon smiled weakly as he watched the ashes float away on the breeze, but the smile was quickly wiped off of his face as another three tendrils made their way towards him. He blasted them again, but the last one had almost hit Laura. He wiped some sweat off his brow. 

"Oh god. This is hard." he said, before moving over to her. If the worst came to the worst, he could shield her with his own body. He watched as the shadow beast sent more tendrils, but this time he had a plan. He locked his lips over Laura's, and dived underwater with her.

The tendrils followed after him, tainting the water around it, and mutilating any wild Pokemon that came across its path. Ganon looked backwards quickly, seeing that the mutilated fish Pokemon had been drafted in to help chase after them. He saw a shadow Carvahna catch up with him and bite down on his foot. He winced but didn't take his mouth away from Laura's. If he removed it she'd drown.

_Yow! Damn fish._

If Ganon had a hand free he would have slapped himself. There was a fish on his foot. He tilted his body straight up and flew out of the water, dazing the Pokemon. Ganon knew that as it depended on gills to breathe, it would quickly die and fall off. As he heard the splash below, he was glad it had worked. He couldn't reach his feet to pull it off otherwise.

* * *

As the light from Loki faded, the humans looked at him dumbstruck. Stood in his place was a human with dark blue hair in spikes. (No ear tufts) He was wearing a black tunic that cut at the tops of the arms and a V over his lap. Evidently, he was wearing a chain-mail shirt under the top, as the sleeves were visible where the tunic was cut. 

"X! If you intend to destroy Altomare, you have to go through me first." he announced. X looked up from the newspaper he was reading. Having an evil minion doing all the work was really boring, so he'd pulled up a deckchair and a newspaper. He shrugged.

"Well might as well. I've just finished the Sudoku. It's really boring when you're not the one doing the killing."

"Shut up. Stand and fight like a man."

"I presume you mean like a male rather than a human."

"Obviously you foul beast."

"Oh stop being so melodramatic."

"I'm not being melodramatic. In case you haven't noticed, you're destroying my city."

"What? Really? Well I hadn't noticed at all (!) I just thought someone was having a very large barbecue somewhere (!)"

"Shut up!" Moxis yelled. Both eons looked at him shocked.

"Lucario, don't you know that you shouldn't-" Loki began.

"Interrupt a conversation between men?" X interrupted. Moxis looked back at X and sighed.

"Do you have any idea how stupid you sounded then? You interrupted to tell me not to interrupt."

"Well, if I sound stupid. I don't need to look stupid. Return!" X yelled into the sky, arching his head back. They all looked up to see the shards of darkness shooting back up into the main body of the shadow cloud. The arcane glyphs reformed over the surface, lines glowing and intersecting randomly.

"What the hell is that thing?" Ash asked, not actually as terrified as he should be. X looked down at him incredulously.

"That, my stupid little human, is the greatest evil of all."

"That just sounds cheesy."

"Oh no. It's not cheesy. It actually is the greatest evil... of All. It pervades through all of space and time. It exists between every known universe, seeping through the cracks in reality and planting the seeds of discord and terror throughout the populous. Death and destruction trail in its wake, and that's just the lucky civilizations. Those who made the gruesome mistake to invoke its wrath were obliterated so thoroughly that they were reborn on a different plane of existence, just to be obliterated, again, and again, each time more gruesome than the last."

"That's impossible. Nothing can live in the Void." Moxis said.

"Err, what's the void?" Brock asked. Moxis looked over at him. Brock was thick, so he'd have to dumb it down an awful lot.

"The dead space between dimensions."

"What's in it?"

"Nothing. Absolutely nothing. No space, no time, no up, no down, no light. Not even dark."

"That can't be right. There has to be something there."

"There can't be. The void is the glue that holds universes together. If there was anything stuck in between, it would force itself through the... cracks of reality... in every... single... Shit." Moxis held his head in his hands, "No no no no no. "

"What?"

"I just realised that X's description of that thing is scientifically accurate."

"Hey. Explanation over. I've still got to tell you its name." X interjected. He was getting fed up with the hold up. He wanted to kill someone and kill them now. At this point he wasn't even too fussy who he killed. Moxis shook his head at him.

"I already know its name. I can tell it's a Pokemon by its Aura. If this Pokemon lives in the Void as you claim, then it is beyond time. Therefore it was there before any other Pokemon. That makes it Pokemon Zero."

"Pokemon Zero?" Misty asked.

"The Missingno."

* * *

Ganon watched as the tendrils chasing him retreated. 

"Finally. A breakthrough."

Ganon looked back down at Laura in his arms. She wasn't dead, but unless he helped her quickly, she would be. Just before they'd retreated, the last tendril had grabbed Ganon's wing, and dragged him down into the ocean. In his shock he hadn't been able to protect Laura from drowning. She had been coughing and spluttering all the time since, but still unconscious. Ganon had tried flying upside down with her to get the water to actually come out, but it didn't work. He had to get her to land, the closest of which was the manor island. He hovered over the ruins, briefly reminiscing over such wasted beauty, before flying down to the surface. He laid her down on a bed of sand at the edge of the rocky outpost. She had stopped spluttering. He looked at her chest, and noticed that she wasn't breathing.

"NO! COME ON! We've been through too much together for you to give up now." He screamed.

Time to use an old trick he'd picked up over the years. He rolled her onto her side, and struck her back hard. She immediately began coughing up water. He moved back slightly, as being a creature of her size, it would take a long time to actually completely clear out her own lungs. If he did any more, the force of the blows required could break her back. She continued to splutter for several minutes, before settling down and breathing slowly again, still unconscious. He looked over at the Shadow beast hovering above the city in case it decided to come back. Even if the unthinkable had happened, he would still protect her from that monstrosity.

* * *

"Missingno! Come to me!" X yelled up at the shadow. 

"Whoa no! You are not doing that!" Moxis yelled as he ran at X, fists twirling back ready to drill a hole straight through the demon. He lunged at X, screeching savagely as he pummelled every inch of him he could reach. Unfortunately, that was none whatsoever.

X had erected a force field around himself blocking Moxis's punches. Moxis however, having his eyes closed didn't notice any of this and continued to punch thin air. X held a finger up to his lips and continued to watch Moxis. The humans and Loki sweat dropped. Lani, who had just come up for breath, took one look, and began laughing. Moxis opened his eyes to see that X had settled down to read the newspaper again. He growled savagely and jumped at X, crashing into the force field and slowly sliding down it. X took a sharp intake of breath.

"Ooooh, that's gotta hurt."

"Yeah..." Loki added, wincing as Moxis hit the floor. As everyone watched Moxis, the shadow cloud finished it's descent, enshrouding X in mist. He laughed as it tickled slightly, before the mist cleared. Loki looked at X, and rolled his eyes. There was no apparent difference.

"And that makes you all powerful how exactly?"

"Oh, just like this." X flicked out one wrist casually, and shot a pulse of dark energy at Bianca. A purple crystal grew out of the ground around her, encasing her. She appeared to scream and bang on the inside of the crystal surface, but it was silent. X nodded appreciatively.

"Soundproof too! Never anticipated that. Very useful."

"Let her out right now." Loki yelled.

"Oh no. I've just got hold of this power, so I still need to get used to using it before undoing it." he said, building crystals around Lorenzo, Misty, Brock, Ash, Loki, and Moxis. He turned to Lani, and tried to crystallise her. A strange clicking sound was all that was heard. X turned around and crystallised a random Pidgey trying to fly away.

"Well it's not ammo restricted..." He tried to crystallise her again, getting only the same clicking noise. He crystallised a rock on the ground. "You aren't a robot..." He held up his other hand and built crystal around the limb. "You're not evil... What the hell is wrong with you?!"

Lani looked down at her own chest at the silver pendant swinging loosely on it. She looked back up at X, and smiled a dangerous grin. X's own grin disappeared like a Vulpix down a hole.

"Don't tell me that was Ganon's."

"Okay then. I won't tell you it was." She said, before flying straight at X.

* * *

Ganon was still waiting for Laura to wake up. Twice now she had stopped breathing completely. He watched her carefully, hoping that it wouldn't happen a third time. She spluttered once, and Ganon looked up in hope, before realising that she wasn't going to wake up. He looked back down at her, and she had stopped breathing; for the third time; for the final time. 

"No..." He whispered, "No. You can't go like this. We always said that we'd go together. You... you can't... you..." He collapsed on her chest, hugging her neck tightly. He nuzzled her frantically as he broke down in a fit of weeping.

"She's gone. Deal with it." Said a voice behind him. Ganon didn't move away.

"Piss off. Leave me alone."

"You don't have the right to make me do anything." The voice said. Ganon scowled into her neck and got up, tears forgotten. He looked around at the creature that was addressing him. It was a green Latios.

"I have every right to tell you to piss off. Do you know who I am?"

"Yes. You're some pointless run of the mill Latios. You are a lesser being than me." Said the green Latios. Ganon got up and hovered straight over to this newcomer.

"How dare you. I should kill you." He started. The green Latios swung an arm up at Ganon's face, faster than the eye could catch, but Ganon still easily ducked under the blow.

"You are the ignorant youngster here. You're a runt. A pathetic weakling that-" Ganon lashed out with his own claw, drawing blood from the Green Latios's face. It gasped in pain, and brought his hand to his face. He looked at his hand to see the blood on it.

"You... you wounded me. No one has ever wounded me. Who are you?" It asked. Ganon snorted.

"You tell me your name first." Ganon demanded.

"No. You speak first insolent child."

"Child? Where does your ignorance end?"

"Far before yours."

"Shall I kill you now or later?"

"You wish to fight me, runty?"

"My name is not runty. And yes. I shall fight you. And no doubt win."

"I'm afraid you shall be the loser in this match." The green Latios said, taking wing again.

"You're right to be afraid, but not for me." Ganon said calmly, before leaping back into the air.

"Nice trash talk. Shame you're talking out of your-"

"Nose? If that's the case, when did I say you, bogey?"

"BOGEY?! MY NAME IS EINAR!"

"Well that's sorted that problem out." Ganon pointed out, settling back on the ground.

"Huh?"

"The whole point of us about to fight was to decide who said their name first. You just identified yourself as Einar, meaning the Lone Warrior." The green Latios folded it's forearms, and turned away slightly, sulking.

"I prefer the term Battle Champion."

"Whatever. As for my name, it is Ganon." Ganon said calmly. Einar's eyes boggled.

"Oh bugger."

"Takes a while to sink in doesn't it." Ganon said, nodding and waving his right arm in little circles in front of him. Einar frowned.

"No need to patronise me."

"Well why are you here?" Ganon asked the Eon. Einar settled down on the land below next to Laura. Ganon landed in front of him, blocking his way to her, "You stay away from her."

"Or else what? I've been in enough battles to know whether someone is dead or not, and she's certainly not dead." It was Ganon's turn to be surprised.

"Then what are you doing here wasting my time greeny. Get out of it!" Ganon yelled, pushing the Eon away. He turned back to face Laura, crooning into her ear. Einar coughed quietly, causing Ganon to look around in anger.

"You're still here? Beat it."

"I was sent to take you with me."

"I'm not going anywhere."

"And you think you have a choice?"

"WHY IS EVERYONE SAYING I HAVE NO CHOICES!!!" Ganon bellowed at him. Einar flew backwards for about a metre.

"Well, I'm sorry, but you have to come with me." Einar said, extending a claw. Ganon floated back down and hugged Laura tightly.

"I'm not leaving her like this." Ganon said. Einar retracted the claw and scowled. Never mind the peaceful approach.

"Tough." Einar said before teleporting them both out of the dimension.

* * *

X smiled as he held Lani by the nose in one hand, pushing her away from him. Her charge had been pretty much useless, and she was just pushing against his hand. Loki rolled his eyes from his own crystal, knowing full well that nothing he said would be heard. Ash wasn't paying attention about the crystals being soundproof, and was continuing to demonstrate his ignorance by continuing to pummel the mineral wall. Misty was smashing the side with her hammer, making no progress whatsoever, whilst Moxis, who had managed to swipe X's newspaper was sitting at the bottom of his crystal reading it. It wasn't as though the crystals were uncomfortable, it just made everything an annoying puce colour. That and Lucarios had a genetic affinity for crystals. 

Lani eventually tired herself out, falling limply to the floor, breathing heavily. X bent down to study her face.

"You are actually kind of cute aren't you?" He said, looking at her face. She blinked weakly at him, trying to bite his hand. He let her, and wasn't surprised that it was very weak. He gently pulled the amulet from her neck.

"Aw... poor girl. How about you go sleep in your fountain again?" X whispered, making a sweeping gesture with his hand. Lani was hurled across the garden back into the fountain. She landed on a ledge and sat there trying to recover. X smiled.

"That's a nice pose," He said, waving his hand at her, "How about you keep it forever?"

Lani was immediately turned to stone, her eyes half open looking out across the courtyard. Even Loki forgot about the soundproof nature of the crystals and started banging on the crystal. Everyone else except Moxis and Ash just stood there paralysed in fear. Ash slowly sank to his knees, his hands trailing down the side. Moxis hadn't noticed, still reading the paper. He scratched his ear idly and put in the last letter for the crossword. X looked over at the statue, admiring his handiwork.

"That's actually quite a sexy expression. I might have to charge an entrance fee..." He mused.

He looked back over at his crystal captives, taking delight at their visions of fear, loathing and despair. Then he looked at Moxis, and was aghast to see the Lucario waving the completed puzzle page at him. He turned away to look at the statue again, before sitting back in his deckchair. He took a deep breath, and blew it out through his mouth.

"I could do with a better throne..." He said to no-one in particular, looking up at the sky, "Much too bright." He waved his hand again and the sky quickly changed to a moonlit starscape. X rolled his eyes.

"YAWN...This is boring. I was expecting Ganon to have stopped me by now..." He looked over at his captives.

"Hmmm... which one... Ash? Too puny. Misty?" He looked over at her crystal, where she was still smashing away at the interior, "Crazy. Moxis... Still gloating... Ah!" X looked at Loki's crystal. He was still standing there, fury evident in his eyes.

"Let's see. Reasonably angry, similar to his father. Yes. You'll do." X waved his hand in a lazy gesture, removing the crystal prison. Loki blinked twice when X pointed at him.

"You. Little child. I'm bored. You can fight me." He said, a cold sneer playing over his lips. Loki blinked again.

"Look. Just do what I say. I'm your new Overlord. Pick up the sword and try and attack me." Loki looked down at the sword and then back up at X.

"Come on! I'm dying of boredom here!"

"That kind of was the intention." Loki said shrugging. X scowled.

"I'm not literally dying, I'm just so bored I could fall asleep. Since that damn mutt destroyed my demon form, I can't look menacing that way. Before I came here, I knew I had to look menacing, and the closest I've done to that is petrifying your sister. At least if I kill you, I can look like a cruel merciless tyrant."

"So it's for your image?"

"Yes. People won't cower in fear unless I do something drastic."

"How about getting hitched? That's pretty drastic."

"It hits your wallet for six though. And that's just the honeymoon."

"Hmmm... Good point." Loki said, thinking it through thoroughly. X suddenly realised something.

"Hey hold on a second. Why am I just here chatting with you? I'm supposed to be killing you."

"Because you couldn't think of anything else to do because you were bored."

"Then pick up the sword and lets fight."

"No." Loki said adamantly. X sighed and summoned his own sword. He walked over to the stone Lani, and held the blade next to her nose.

"I'll give her a moustache." X taunted. Loki looked murderous.

"You git!" He yelled, lunging for the sword and rushing after X.

"Finally. Something worthwhile." X sighed contentedly as he parried Loki's first blow.

* * *

Ganon looked around at the new surroundings. He was sure he'd been here before... 

"Welcome back to the Lateral Realm, Ganon."

"It's a lot smaller than I remembered it."

"Well it will be. You were only just over three feet long when you left."

"Excuse me?"

"What? It's common knowledge." Einar said, matter of factly. Ganon looked sceptical, before looking around at the area around him. It was relatively tranquil, with green fields spreading out from where they'd landed, giving way to lush forests after about 100 metres. Ganon could hear screeching from the canopy of the trees, and occasionally caught glimpses of other eons flitting around them. They were all blue.

"What's up with them?"

"We landed in the middle of the playing field during break. They're terrified of you. The Elders made you out to be a terrible creature."

"What? Those tutors did that?! Those absolute-"

"Think before you say that next word boy." Said a voice from behind him. Ganon turned around slowly to face an aging Latios. It was the normal blue colouration.

"Before I say what? That you and those other fossils are absolute retards?" Ganon challenged. The old Latios scowled and used some form of psychic power to throw Ganon into a wall which crumbled under his weight. Ganon got up as though nothing had happened.

"You call that power?"

"Well I know for a fact that you can't do anything better. You always were the last in the classes. But even the best of the rest couldn't even so much as scratch me."

"You pathetic old bat." Ganon said calmly, before responding with a psychic pulse of his own. He hurled the ancient beast backwards straight over a hillock, throwing him into a tree. The trunk cracked and began to fall onto the instructor, who promptly grabbed it with telekinesis to stop it crushing him. He held the tree in front of him like a giant oversized sword, and pointed it straight at Ganon.

"You insolent boy!" The Latios yelled, swinging the tree at Ganon. Ganon sighed and ripped the tree out of the instructor's mental grasp, before swatting the fossil aside with it. The Latios soared over the green, before finally managing to stop spinning around in the air. It turned back to dive bomb Ganon, but was caught in Ganon's mental grip once he was within five metres.

"Let me go now!" The senior demanded, teeth bared with rage.

"So that I can beat the crap out of you? Deal with it fossil. I'm better than you ever have been or ever will be. And I think I've just proven that I'm better than you now, completing the set of tenses."

"You little-"

"Oh shut up." Ganon said distractedly, throwing the Latios away. It squealed and crashed into another tree, before hovering back to Ganon, who promptly threw it away again when it lunged at him. It came back, and sat down on a grassy outcrop.

"You've improved slightly. But still no match for- EIIIIIIIIIIYEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" He screamed as he was flung through the air once again.

"Ganon, can you stop throwing him now? It's getting tedious." Einar complained, tugging at Ganon's arm.

"But it's so much fun! Finally being able to do what I've dreamed of for ages."

"But what about Laura? You still want to save her don't you." Einar asked. Ganon groaned and grabbed his head in his hands.

"Oh damn. How could I forget?"

"Well, everyone has wanted to beat up Lombard. You're just the first that's been able to."

"Young whipper-snappers today..." The old Latios grumbled from the other side of the hillock.

"Well why did you bring me here?"

"To stop X." Einar announced. Ganon rolled his eyes.

"Well here's a newsflash for you. X isn't in this world," He said, pointing down at the ground, "He's in _that_ world. The one we were just in." Ganon pointed backwards over his wing. In another species, it would be called the shoulder. Einar scowled.

"I was getting to that bit. There is a much easier way to stop X."

"You can't have any sentence with the words easy, stop, and X in, unless another word in there is not."

"Well, I just said it, therefore there is." Einar finished.

"No. He's too young. He's still got another two years." Lombard mumbled. Strangely enough though, this was a dialect of mumble that Ganon understood. He looked back at Einar in repulsion.

"No. I am not adopting anything. Take me back to Altomare now." Ganon demanded. Lombard chuckled.

"Impatient as always, incompetent fool." Ganon picked up the tree, causing Lombard to flinch. "Erm I mean... Oh screw it. I'll just fly back. Why be nice to you when you're an ignorant little-" THWACK. Einar watched as the tutor sailed over his head, and then turned to look at Ganon.

"Reckon I should turn pro?" Ganon joked. Einar frowned.

"Get serious. This is important."

"Well, will you finally tell me what's going on?"

"Fine then. I'll take you to him." Einar said, turning back towards the main building, whilst Ganon followed behind. A few little eons poked their heads out from behind bushes and trees, some watching in awe and some in fear. Ganon just looked at each of them in turn, causing them to retreat back into their respective hiding places.

"Was I ever that small?"

"No. You were smaller." Einar commented, not particularly liking the looks on the faces of some of the baby Latios's that were pointing at him. He floated quickly over to the door, ushering Ganon inside. Ganon entered, and looked around. It still looked pretty much the same as ever, except there were more burn marks on the columns than he was used to. The other tutors were huddled around one doorway, guarding it. Ganon walked straight through them, earning a reprimanding look from each of them.

"I've got a tree and I'm not afraid to use it. So back off fossils." Ganon said. These Latios were responsible for making his life a living hell for the first twelve years, now was finally a time where he could get back at them. He entered the doorway into a darkened room.

"Who are you big dude? Those retards don't let anyone in here." Said a small red Latios sitting on a bed. Ganon looked at it in confusion, before turning back to Einar.

"Whose child is this?" He asked. He had a hunch, but he couldn't guess who the mother was.

"X's child. He left him here ten years ago." Ganon rolled his eyes.

"And the mother?"

"Sarah."

Ganon's eyes widened, although it was an expression the little Latios shared.

"My mother was special too?" The child asked. Ganon turned around to look at the small Latios, not having the heart to tell him that his mother was a completely different species to X.

"Well, I suppose you could say that."

"Do you know her? Tell me about her." The little Latios asked, leaning forwards and resting on his forearms. Ganon looked over at Einar with a worried expression on his face. He gestured for Ganon to continue, not knowing that it was a very fragile issue.

"Well... err..." Ganon thought back to his fight with her earlier, "She's very affectionate... very VERY affectionate... She's very good at gymnastics, so she's very flexible... Oh yeah. She never gives up without a fight. She gets very possessive over things that matter to her."

"Cool!" The child cooed in amazement. Ganon sweat dropped and looked back over at Einar. He nodded back nervously, and gestured for him to continue.

_'That bogey is up to something.' _The child's voice said in Ganon's mind. Ganon looked around quickly to see the boy looking at him. He wasn't really too surprised that the child could use Telepathy, although it had taken him at least a year after he was booted from the nursery to get a grip of it himself.

_I know. He's perspiring a lot more than natural here. I mean the distaste for the tutors is one thing, but this is just off the scale. I think he's trying to delay something._

_'They don't think I know, but they've been trying to trap me for ages.'_

_Why?_

_'They think I might turn the other boys g-'_

_Whoa. I get the picture. They're just trying to ensure the species continues._

_'They've tried dying me blue.'_

_I presume that didn't work_. Ganon said, smiling slightly. The youngster flexed his wings.

_'No. The dye washes straight off. Even worse for them, they made it out of Bluk berries, so it tastes nice too.'_

Ganon looked back over at Einar who was still rolling his hand around in circles despite looking through the skylight. Ganon followed the gaze of the distracted Latios, squawking as...

He lunged forwards and swiped the child off the bed, just as a white ray of light shot down and incinerated the bed. Had the child still been on it, he would no doubt have been vaporised. Einar looked over at Ganon in anger.

"What the hell do you think you're doing Ganon!"

"Saving a child's life!"

"No! He was due to be executed! You were brought here to bear witness to that."

"For what? So next time I meet X I can just say 'Oh hiya. I was involved in the murder of your kid.' I get the feeling he won't take kindly to that."

_'What's going on? What are they doing?'_

_Hold on tight. I'm about to break a few laws of physics. This may hurt. _Ganon answered, turning to face the open doorway. Einar dashed in front of it to block it.

"I command you to stop!" Einar yelled, immediately flanked by another twelve regular Latios. Ganon took one look at them and smirked. This was too easy. He shot out a psychic pulse, hurling the regulars into the wall, cracking them and leaving the other Eons unconscious. However, it didn't seem to have any effect on Einar.

"You will stop now! That is an order from a superior officer!" Einar yelled, maintaining his position over the doorway. Ganon rolled his eyes, before tilting his head back and yodelling.

"What the hell do you think you're- OOF!" Einar yelled as a tree was suddenly dragged through the door, knocking over onto his front.

"You'll pay for this! I' won't go down that-" He was cut off as Ganon dropped the tree on him. The child looked at the unconscious eon on the floor and looked back up at Ganon.

"That was cool! How do you do that?"

"Just hold on." Ganon yelled over his shoulder, charging straight for the now unprotected doorway. He burst through the doorway, his wings cutting swathes through the door posts. He swept through the corridors, knocking aside tutors rushing the other way to try and stop him. He arched into the central chamber, the polished red marble and gold floor winking in the near darkness.

_Hold onto your lunch. This is a bumpy ride._ He told the fledgling as he curved through the air. He spiralled in towards the centre of the mural that decorated the floor, a Latios and the shape that Ganon could now identify as a Latias twisting together to form a circle. The gargoyles decorating the tops of the columns turned to face the mural as Ganon used a psychic wave to trigger their appropriate spatial co-ordinates. A black crystal was revealed in the circular space between the Eon symbols, right at the focus point of the gaze of the gargoyles.

Each gargoyle fired a beam of energy into the crystal, each bolt making the crystals colour brighten, until by the time the twelfth one had been fired, the gemstone was glowing a brilliant white. The light suffused through veins in the marble and across to each icon. The two eon symbols began to dance around each other, before becoming little more than a spinning white mass in the centre of the floor. The air distorted heavily as the energy balled up into the main room, generating the very dimensional anomaly that had sent him to Kraith, the spiralling arms waiting to embrace him.

_It's not as green as I remembered it._

_'Just get us out of here! Please!' _Squealed the child hugging his back tightly. He was absolutely terrified. Ganon flew over the portal, before doing a backwards loop straight down the throat of the rift.

* * *

High in the skies of Kraith, a huge green portal opened up, admitting a Latios and his passenger admittance back to the real world. At the feeling of wind rushing through his wings again, the young Latios opened his eyes. He looked down at the ground thousands of feet below, and quickly closed them again. 

"NNN NNNNN." The youngster said, muffled by the wind.

_Use telepathy. I can't hear you through the jet stream._

_'Too high!'_

_A Latios that's scared of heights?_

_'Just... down! Please!' _

_Just a moment. _Ganon said as he rolled upside down in flight. He could feel the youngsters grip weakening, and just as he was about to let go, he spun over the rest of the way, throwing the little eon about a metre to his left. Ganon could see the fledgling screaming as he grabbed one of his claws in his own. The red Latios looked at Ganon in shock, and saw him smiling.

_Then I'll just have to teach you how to fly myself. It's a genetic memory, so you'll pick it up quickly. Just watch my wings carefully._

Ganon scoured the ground below carefully. It hadn't been too long since he'd last flown over these fields. After all; he lived here. He looked for the southern seaboard, following the coast until he saw the Segon River. He followed the path of the river up about forty miles, finding the Segon Valley.

_There it is. That's where I landed here the first time. Broke my wing from the fall. _Ganon winced.

He turned to face the canyon, pulling the youngster around with him.

_Angle your wings as far back as you can. This is an assisted freefall._

_'Isn't freefalling really dangerous?'_

_That's only if you hit the ground at terminal velocity. Assisted freefall is where you go faster than terminal velocity allows._

_'Isn't that more dangerous?'_

_Of course. That's what makes it so much fun. _Ganon finished as he folded his wings and right arm flat into his body. He watched as the youngster did the same, before pelting down straight at the ground. Ganon kept one eye on his passenger, making a mental note at how fast he was getting the hang of flying. He was no longer totally dependant on Ganon for stability.

As they neared the Valley, Ganon tilted their course slightly to the left, towards a cluster of buildings almost invisible from this angle, as it was surrounded on one side by trees. Ganon piloted them both into the tree border just north of the village.

_Now just go to sleep for a little while, okay?_

_'Why?'_

_Sleep._ Ganon said as he used hypnosis on the child. It instantly nodded off in his arms. Ganon looked up at the sky and noticed that it was dark.

"Well that should make an approach easier." He said, putting the child down, and shapeshifting back into his human form. He picked the Latios back up, thankful that at only two and a half feet long, and light enough to carry. He walked through the town towards the Pokemon centre where he had been raised for the first few years of his life on the planet. He stopped in front of it, looking up at the sign above the doorway. It hadn't been changed since he'd first arrived, and he couldn't help but feel a pang of nostalgia at the sight of it. He shook a tear off his face and entered the building.

As he entered, he was greeted by a hoard of people clamouring over the main counter. Judging by the noise of the throng, they weren't happy, and he quickly added a hooded cloak to his appearance, hiding the Latios under it to shield him from view, and to shield his own face. He listened carefully to what some of the complaints were about.

"It's one in the afternoon!" Said one. That wasn't much help.

_Hold on. One in the afternoon? It's night._

Ganon looked up to the wall to see the clock was indeed saying that it was five past one.

"Everyone, please! There's Pokemon here that need to heal. Our Pokemon can't do anything to shift this darkness, and due to that, we have reason to believe that this is a natural occurrence."

"Natural my arse!" Another lout yelled. Ganon growled to himself at their stupidity. He needed to get to the counter, but there were too many people in the way. He decided it would be easier to speak up, but he changed his voice so he wouldn't be recognised.

"Excuse me, but if you don't mind, there are some of us trying to sleep. If this night is here, we might as well make use of it. How many of you have left your homes to come and march at this pointless drive?" He said, a much lower voice rolling from his tongue.

"It's not-"

"Shut up. That was a rhetorical question."

"Hey. No-one tells me to shut up!"

"Well I just did, so unless you want to take it outside," Ganon drew out a longsword from the interior of the cloak, earning gasps from the audience members, "I would recommend you shut up." The stranger remained silent.

"Anyway. As you've all left your homes unprotected, no doubt there will be burglars making the most of this unique opportunity. I presume you all enjoy your televisions and radios?"

"Our insurance-"

"Will not cover it. Events that can be seen as an act of god aren't covered by _any _insurance firm. This is one of those, on par with earthquakes, and volcanoes. My own Pokemon are the best..." Ganon waited to see if anyone dared to argue, and although he could see some trainers fuming, none of them opposed him, "And none of them can shift this. Only something with power on the scale of a god can cause this, rendering your insurance void. Anyone who values their material possessions, go home. Now."

Ganon smirked from under his hood as everyone slowly filed out of the PokeCentre. A few people looked at him angrily as they walked past him, but every time someone did, he tapped the point of the sword against the floor, earning a metallic echo that scared them off.

"Stupid monk..." muttered one. Ganon smirked again. His disguise had been good enough at such short notice. After the last person had gone, he strolled up to the counter to talk to the assistant. She had waist length red hair, and was wearing a plain pink shirt and skirt.

"Hi Larkspur." He said, pulling off his hood to reveal his face. She smiled as he walked around to her and gave her a peck on the cheek. She blushed and kissed his cheek back.

"Hi Ganon. Thanks for dealing with that mob. There's no way I would have got them out otherwise." She said, holding his hands. Ganon smiled, but didn't answer. Larkspur shuffled slightly before continuing, "You wouldn't happen to know what actually _is _the cause of this? I can tell it isn't yours, because you can control most of your powers better now." She heard an explosion and raised her right hand, catching a fork that was zooming past her ear. Ganon grinned sheepishly.

"Like you said. Most."

"Hmm." She hummed smiling, "So why are you here? Someone like you doesn't stop by just to say hello to pretty little me. You must be here for something." Larkspur asked. Ganon smiled kindly.

"Very good. You're right. I need transport back to Altomare." Larkspur made a sorry face.

"Ooooh., when the wave hit, it broke the chute leading there. You'll have to use another one and fly there." She said, actually looking a lot more sorry, as though it was her fault. Ganon walked over to her, patting her gently on the shoulder as he hugged her.

"There, there. It wasn't you, it was the gruesomes." Larkspur laughed slightly on his shoulder, but was still evidently in distress. Ganon hugged her more, watching over her shoulder as a grey Glaceon padded over. He waved.

"Hi Mel."

"It's Melissa." The Glaceon said coldly. Ganon smiled and pulled himself away from Larkspur.

"Now is that any way to greet an old friend?" Ganon said, walking up to her. Melissa scowled at him.

"Shut up and come downstairs. We need to talk."

"I don't have time!"

"You had time to hug her. And that little kiss."

"That's because she's my friend."

"Well anyway, downstairs. Now. Larkspur, lock up. You need to come down too." Melissa said, pointing over at the doors. Larkspur nodded and quickly headed off to bolt it, as Melissa turned around to walk back into the backroom. Ganon followed behind quickly, as did Larkspur when she'd finished bolting the main door. She looked at Ganon out of the corner of her eye, and he smiled back in acknowledgment.

"I thought you didn't have time to catch up." Melissa said smirking slightly. Ganon growled at her.

"Well if you would walk faster, we wouldn't have time to."

"Well I'm an old girl now. I'm not as fast as I used to be. They say patience came with age too, which explains why you still look no older than seventeen."

"Touché." Ganon said, nodding slightly. Melissa smiled as she led them into an elevator. She put her paw against an unmarked panel under the buttons, and it began to lower slowly.

"At least I have you keeping my mind as sharp as ever, calling me everyday. What happened last night? You forgot to ring. You actually managed to worry me."

"Oh that. I was dead." Larkspurs eyes widened, but Melissa just nodded appreciatively.

"Ah. I thought it would have been something like that. I trust the Resurrection worked then?"

"Almost."

"Almost?"

"X got to it first. The energy signature wasn't specific enough."

"So how did you get back?"

"I bartered with Sarah for my soul back." Ganon asked.

"That dumb bird that tried to roast me all the time?" Larkspur asked. Melissa nodded.

"That's her. So, we have X back, Sarah at large, anything else I should know?" Melissa asked casually. Ganon squirmed.

"Well, if you put those two problems together, you get this little bundle." He said, unwrapping the sleeping Latios from under his cloak. They both took a step forward to look at it. Melissa inspected it's sleeping form.

"Awww!" Larkspur cooed.

"How strong a hypnosis did you use?" Melissa asked, looking at the youngster breathing slowly in his sleep. Ganon squirmed.

"Well, maybe actually a little more than was totally required." He responded. Larkspur wasn't paying attention; she was stroking him softly under the chin, causing him to murmur slightly in his sleep.

"Gnnnnn... Mommy..." The child murmured. Larkspur pulled her hand back quickly as the Eon rolled back over in Ganon's arms.

"Okay, a lot more."

"How long were you intending for him to be out for?"

"About an hour. Two hours tops." Ganon said. The lift bell dinged, and the door opened.

"Hmmm... That'll be enough to get you all transported." Melissa said, stepping out of the lift. Ganon looked right, towards Melissa's office, which was where she was leading them. She stepped through, jumping up onto her seat. She winced as she heard something crack.

"Heh. Physio has told me I shouldn't do that. Guess I should have listened." Melissa smiled apologetically. She looked over at Ganon, noticing the slight look of worry on his face. "Oh it's nothing. It's just a few of my joints crack when I jump. Feel free to take your normal forms again in here."

"Thanks Mel." Larkspur said, "Do you know how awkward it feels looking like a human day after day? It gets really sore." Ganon smiled, patting her arm gently.

"You get used to it eventually." Ganon said. Larkspur hummed contentedly, as a wave of blue lights rolled over her body. Ganon watched as the Latias settled down, before setting the Latios on the desk and transforming back himself. He rolled his wings, almost clipping Larkspurs head before settling down on a sofa along one wall.

"Well. No you've sorted yourselves out, we need to talk. Ganon. Judging by the satellite image, the heart of this Darkness is directly over Altomare. Our scanners can't penetrate the fog, but our sensors from the chute exit tell us that your manor island was recently flooded over, destroying the exit station. However, I've changed your route to take you to the nearest port, allowing you to fly over there. It shouldn't be too hard for you, it's only a ten minute flight."

"That's good. But why have you brought Larkspur down here?" Ganon said, taking a cup of coffee from the machine on Melissa's desk, draining it in one mouthful. He had a big mouth.

"Simple." Melissa turned to the Latias. "Larkspur. You're going with him." Ganon sneezed out the entire cup of coffee, burning his nose.

"YEEARGH! HOT HOT HOT! She can't come with me!"

"Tough. Every time we've had a success against X, you've had a Latias by your side. Every time you've lost against him, you've been alone. With Laura-" Ganon growled deeply.

"Don't you _dare_ say that." He said darkly. Melissa raised one eyebrow at him, and actually having a pair meant it actually made a difference to her face. Larkspur looked at him in confusion, before the sudden realisation kicked in.

"So you mean..." Larkspur asked softly. Ganon held his face in his hands, peeking out forlornly between the claws.

"Please. Please don't say it." He sobbed. Larkspur sat there motionless, the revelation slowly sinking in. Laura. Gone. Her whole world, as well as Ganon's. She immediately flung herself over him, sobbing hysterically on his shoulder. Melissa was finding it hard to tell who was more upset, but she could feel that she had made a big mistake in mentioning her.

"Well... Now's not the time for that. We have deduced from-"

"Oh shut up!" Larkspur cried over at her, tears streaming over her face as she flew out of the room. She barely even folded her wings to go through the doorway, a loud crunch being heard as she pelted through it. Melissa looked over at the doorway, marvelling at how the doorframe had withheld to such a battering. She mentally cursed herself though when the doorposts collapsed, leaving nothing more than a hole in the wall. Murphy's Law in action. She turned back to Ganon, who was still there, although judging by his irritation, it was clear he didn't want to be.

"Ganon. Focus. We have deduced from Moxis's DS that X has taken control of the power of the Missingno. If you can take that power off him, then maybe you can defeat X." She finished, still looking at Ganon cradling his head in his claws.

"I don't want to."

"Excuse me?!" Melissa yelled, shocked. Ganon looked back up at her, a glare on his face colder than the most frigid ice she could generate. She crouched down in her chair.

"I don't want to defeat X. I just want Laura back." Ganon said in a low voice. Melissa sighed in relief.

"Well... I'm afraid there are things more important in the world."

"Not to me there isn't." He answered. Melissa whistled. This was going to take a lot of persuasion, and more than she could possibly give. Fortunately, she wasn't alone. The Latios on the desk rolled over in it's sleep, falling off the desk, and waking up from the impromptu collision. It rolled back onto it's front before hovering about a foot of the floor, looking around at the new surroundings.

"Where am I?" The youngster asked. Despite the situation, Ganon laughed slightly.

"Well, before I tell you anything, what's your name?"

"My name? That's easy. Benevuto."

"Okay then, Benevuto. This is Melissa, and I'm just here to sort out transport back to Altomare."

"Transport? What do you mean transport?"

"It's something that takes us from one place to another without having to use energy flying. Melissa can you show us them?"

"So you're going now?" Melissa asked, confused at Ganon's sudden change of heart. She looked down at the little Latios in his arms. "Sure. I'll get a pod sorted. Come on." She said, gracefully slipping off the chair, leading Ganon and Benevuto out of the office. She led them quickly across to another elevator, which immediately descended. The tube plummeted down about 4 kilometres below the establishment. The doors opened at the bottom, opening out into the main port. Benevuto looked around in awe. Unlike the marble and granite he was used to in the nursery, the entire structure was flush with brushed steel, fluorescent strips blazing overhead, lighting the main floor. In the centre of the room was a low tower which had a pair of Meditites looking over various control panels, and a Gardevoir holding a microphone announcing something.

"All passengers for the two o'clock pod to Alanus please make your way to gate two please. This is a gate alteration from Gate Eighteen. Gate Two for the pod to Alanus City." She said into the Microphone, before setting it down and picking up a glass of clear liquid and drinking it.

"So Gracilia still works here? " Ganon asked Melissa. She nodded before leading the group over to the central desk. The Gardevoir looked at the approaching party and rolled her eyes.

"What do you want? I'm more than a bit busy here if you hadn't noticed." She said, tucking a bottle out of sight. Ganon scowled.

"Busy on the Vodka I presume." Ganon said. Gracilia scowled.

"Hey. If I can hold my alcohol and I can do my work fine then who cares less whether or not I'm drinking?" The Gardevoir snapped back. When no reply was made, she smirked, "See. I got you stumped on that one didn't I. And I've been through three bottles of the stuff tonight."

"That'll explain why you're eyes are bloodshot and your hair is a mess.."

"Hey! Where am I? A night club? I'm not trying to pull anyone here so who gives a Ratatta's fart about what I look like?"

"This is the helpdesk. If anyone complains they'll come here and talk to you about their problem." Ganon replied. The Gardevoir stroked her chin thoughtfully, before coming up with the only answer she could think of.

"Go to hell."

"No thanks. Been there, done that. I have no desire to meet that psychotic girl again." Ganon said, forgetting that it was Benevuto's Mother he was talking about. Melissa interjected before Ganon became too openly insulting.

"Gracilia, we haven't got all day so-" The Gardevoir took one look at Melissa before pulling out two bottles of Vodka, and demolishing them in seconds. She became more noticeably bleary eyed.

"Talk to shomeone shobre. They'll give a shit about what you shix want."

"There are only three of us."

"No... There's shix of you. I trust my own eyesh better than you little beggersh." Gracilia slurred, before keeling over onto the table, snoring. One of the Meditites looked around at the party waiting for a command.

"Okay. We need a fresh Stinger to get Ganon to the closest port to Altomare." Melissa said to the Meditite. The monkey turned around and tapped out a long string of characters into the mainframe. After about three seconds, he held up his hand, holding up three fingers in one and a fist in the other.

"Gate three. Thanks." Ganon said to the monkey, who pointed backwards over his shoulder before turning back to the computer screen.

"Why didn't that guy say anything?" Benevuto asked.

"They're mute. They've meditated in the art of computers, so all our Meditites are Techies. Technicians." Ganon added, looking at the look of confusion on the little Eons face. Ganon flew forwards through the room towards gate three, scattering a few Pokemon that were walking through the atrium. Melissa tapped the side of the column, and borrowed a scooter to catch up. She arrived just in time to see Ganon arrive at the Stinger.

"Whoa!" Benevuto exclaimed, looking at the craft sat in the hanger. It was brushed steel to match the theme of the transport chamber, but whilst the regular civilian pods were little different from human bullet trains, the Stinger was much smaller and angular. Melissa walked up to it and tapped the side. The metal hatch opened with a hiss.

"Buckle up you two. Next stop, Altomare."

* * *

X looked up from his sparring session with Loki. 

"Why do I get this feeling of deja-vu?" He asked the empty air around him.

The Latios was stabbing at X furiously, but they were so predictable that X was parrying every single one. He'd already tried to make it fair by holding one arm behind his back keeping his left leg bent up behind him, _but even then_, Loki was losing. X sat down on the deckchair, and rifled through the newspaper he managed to take out of Moxis's crystal with his free hand. Loki was still no closer to landing a hit on him.

* * *

Benevuto was clinging onto Ganon's back, watching the sea rolling underneath as Ganon flew over it, watching small shapes jumping from the surface before diving again. Ganon was staring over at the horizon where Altomare would appear within a few minutes. However, he regretted his lapse in concentration as Ganon's sudden halt almost threw him off. 

"WHAT THE HELL?!" Ganon yelled. This wasn't Altomare. This was some warped visage of the original city. Crystal columns rose from various point of the city, rising up even through the cloud layer. A large barrier of the black substance had wrapped itself around the island, pushing the cities water back out. Every building now resembled a gothic cathedral, spikes and spires puncturing the air above Altomare. Benevuto tried to hide behind Ganon.

"It's scary."

"Well that's your father's imagination for you. And I've got to stop it."

"What are you going to do? Kill him?"

"Well, that was the intention of coming here."

"No! You can't just-" CLANG! A saucepan collided with the side of Benevuto's face, knocking him unconscious. Ganon looked around to look for the source of the noise, and burst into tears of laughter as he saw the cause.

* * *

"Wretched child!" X yelled at the heavily bleeding Eon lying on the floor. Loki had decided to slash X's newspaper in half rather than aiming for his body anymore. However this had the slight side effect of enraging X and brought an end to his comparatively merciful mood. He'd gotten up, and cut a deep slash in Loki's face, before taking the fight back to him. Despite being hideously outclassed, Loki still fought on. Even as a slash from X's blade cut down to the bone, he fought on. Even down to the final moments before X had delivered the no doubt fatal blow, he still fought with the venom that he had at the start. 

"There is no way... that I would... ever... give up to scum... like you." Loki said weakly, coughing out blood. X looked at his face, the hair matted by blood, a black eye, and his jaw swollen where it had no doubt broken.

"Well next time you... Oh! Wait a second! There won't be a next time!" X said, kicking the Eon aside and sitting back in his deckchair. He sat and watched, waiting for this insolent child to die.

* * *

"Hi darling." Laura said to Ganon, hovering in mid-air in front of him. Ganon smiled, then flew to her with open arms. 

SMACK! Ganon clutched his face in pain from where Laura had just slapped him.

"What was that for!" He asked, not capable of losing his temper at Laura. She slapped him again.

"You gave up on me! You left me to die on that damn rock!"

"I didn't leave you."

"Well how come I woke up and you weren't there?"

"Some stupid Latios named Einar teleported me back to the Latios Nursery to watch them try to execute this kid."

"Hold on? Einar?"

"Yes. How do you know about him?" Ganon asked suspiciously. Laura grinned sheepishly, before bringing her claws to her mouth. She imitated a trumpet playing 'Colonel Bogey'. Ganon burst out laughing.

"Ah. He's infamous then."

"Yes. He was even known at our Nursery, although I'd rather not know why. He just plucks people up at the most inconvenient time, and expects them to obey."

"So am I forgiven?" Ganon pleaded. Laura pretended to mull it over.

"Hmmm... weeeeell... Okay." She said, flying forwards to hug him. He hugged her back, just thankful that she was back.

"How did you come back?" He asked, caressing her face softly. She sighed and pulled back slightly.

"From what the others told me, X tried to spread his evil into the museum, which wouldn't have any of it. Apparently the residual energy in it revived every fossil that could help defeat X." Laura finished.

"Others?"

"The other fossils were brought back too. I found them as they were trying to ram down the walls. They explained what was going on before something _massive_ flew out of one of the spires and vaporised them both."

"Ouch."

"I almost felt sorry for them. It turned out they were lovers." Laura finished, looking at Ganon sadly. Ganon paused, looking back just as forlornly.

"Laura. I'm sorry I wasn't there for you."

"Just- No." She said, twiddling with her claws in front of her, "Don't be sorry. It wasn't your fault."

"Yes it was. If I had been faster-"

"Then it would be exactly the same as it is now. Ganon, listen to me. Scry through the Soul Dew. There's something you need to see. It's our family." She said. Ganon stared blankly at her, before the understanding hit him like a ton of bricks. He resentfully scryed through the orb. Over by the fountain was a new statue, a granite effigy of a Latias sat on the pool, apparently on the verge of tears. A strangely familiar boy on the ground was covered in blood with X leering at him from a deckchair holding the remnants of a shredded newspaper.

"What's happened? Where's the kids?" Ganon asked her. She looked away from Ganon, not wanting him to see her crying.

"X got them. The statue is Lani. The dying boy is Loki." Laura whimpered. Ganon flew over to her and tried to comfort her. She backed off slightly.

"No. This world isn't right. There's nothing we can do to right it."

"But..."

"It's too late Ganon, there's no way I can come back from this. Please. We have to leave Altomare."

"But..."

"Ganon. Please! For me?" Laura asked, tears flowing unchecked from her face. Ganon looked between Laura and Altomare. It was an agonising choice. His family, or his world. He tilted his head to one side.

"Laura..."

"Ganon?" Laura asked, worried about what Ganon was about to do.

"I'm sorry."

"Ganon!" She screamed in horror as she watched him open another rift, pulling himself through the Soul Dew into the garden itself, waking up Benevuto in the process.

* * *

"Why does it take so long for you little beggars to die?" X asked the bloodied boy on the floor. Loki looked back up, despite still not capable of hauling himself to his feet. 

"Even now I... will not fear you. You are... just a twisted mockery... of my father..." The Eon-boy whimpered past his broken jaw. X scowled before kicking him in the side again, drawing another long scream of pain.

"Stupid boy. I am better than him in every respect."

"Except taking care of your kids, X." Ganon called over from the fountain where he had materialised. X looked over at him in feigned confusion, "At least I don't dump them in some horrid nursery for ten years just to keep them out of the way. That place is reserved for orphans."

"I don't have a clue what you're on about, but at least I have a challenge now. This pathetic boy of yours is rubbish with a sword. Look!" X gestured to the front of his tuxedo, which was totally unblemished, "Not a scratch."

"Is that my daddy?" Benevuto asked, poking his head over Ganon's wing joint.

"Shit." X muttered as he saw the Eons face, causing him to absently fuse all the remaining prison crystal together. Brock looked around and noticed Bianca was suddenly next to him, although as he immediately tried to flirt, Misty pulled out her hammer and pummelled him up to his neck into the ground. Outside the crystal, Benevuto looked back up at Ganon's face.

"If that's my daddy, where's mommy?" Benevuto asked, earning a funny look from X, and a look of terror on Ganon's face.

"Ooh hoo hoo! You want to meet mommy do you?" X asked the youngster, who nodded eagerly. Ganon did the opposite, shaking his head vigorously.

"Okay then. Sarah! Come on up!" He said, making a rising gesture with his left hand. Flames burst from the ground as X opened a Gateway into the lower planes of Hell, allowing Sarah roam of the surface again. She stepped out of the Gate onto the grass, scorching little marks into the surface.

Everyone in the crystal turned to look at the Blaziken as she stepped out. Brock had just been able to dislodge himself from the hole as he saw the Blaziken stroll past. His mouth fell open as he looked at her hourglass figure, although its immediate re-acquaintance with the ground by Misty was enough to close it again. Moxis looked at the Blaziken with a hatred that could even rival that between X and Ganon. He recognised the armour she wore as Lucario metal. This creature was the one who had murdered his father.

X waved over to the Blaziken, but he was ignored as she noticed Benevuto over Ganon's shoulder. The little Eon shook his head at Ganon.

"No way. That can't be my-"

"BENNY!!!" Sarah squealed, running over and picking him up off Ganon's shoulder. She hugged him tightly, and nuzzled the youngster softly, "Benny. I've missed you. Ever since your daddy sent you up to that dreadful place all those years ago." She said, kissing his face in the embarrassing way only a mother can. Benevuto squirmed.

"Ow! Stop it Mom, that burns!" He squealed at her. X scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

_**Ganon.**_

_What is it Moxis?_

_**Get the Missingno pendant. Take the power from it and go temporal. Go back to last week.**_

_Temporal? Isn't this going to cause a major paradox?_

_**Obviously. That's what I'm counting on. Just ask me to make the signature more specific.**_

_How do I get the pendant?_

_**Hey. I'm not the field agent here. That's your job.**_

_Okay, I've got an idea._

Ganon transformed into his human form and wandered up to stand next to X, apparently observing the scene of Sarah cuddling Benevuto. X was fingering the pendant around his neck slightly.

"Same thing with almost every girl. Give them a child and they'll ignore you completely."

"Hmmm... I was kind of hoping she would have ripped him limb from limb. Guess I shouldn't have expected less from someone that names their kid Benevuto."

"Welcomed Birth. Of course."

"Not for me. Do you have any idea how possessive she is?" X said, leaning over to speak more clearly.

"Yeah. She's an absolute psycho. Psychotic girls are _not _fun to meet."

"Hold on? I've done it again! I'm having a nice friendly chat with someone I'm supposed to be killing!" X roared, pulling his sword back out of it's scabbard. Ganon winced.

"Well that's that plan down the toilet." Ganon said, jumping back to avoid the first sweep. Sarah howled with horror as she tried to shield Benevuto's eyes from the fighting. Ganon rolled to avoid another slash, picking up his sword from next to Loki.

"Father... Help me..." He coughed out. Ganon looked down quickly, before fending off another swipe from X.

"I'm working on it." Ganon said, twirling his arm as X tried to disarm him. Ganon kicked X in the chest, pushing him back, before trying to cut the blade in between his ribs. X blocked and pushed the blade away, getting back up on his feet as Ganon swung around again, catching X straight in the chest again. X looked down at the metal blade jutting ridiculously out of his chest. He looked up at Ganon, who was scowling, a determined look in his eye.

"Brother..." X sobbed once, before his limp form fell off the blade. Ganon bent down and swept up the pendant around X's neck, before walking back up to Moxis. The crystal evaporated as he approached.

"That was good. Just-" Moxis began, before a black haired warrior wielding a Katana materialised again. He was about 5 foot 10, with a medium build that suggested heavy walking and fighting. His ears were mismatched, one being the usual humanoid ear, whilst the other more closely resembled an elf's. His amber eyes stared down at the dead figure on the floor.

"ARGH! I missed him again! That stupid ginger-" The warrior noticed X's black hair, and sweat dropped, "Damn shape changers!" He yelled before jumping out of the dimension as quickly as he had appeared. Ganon looked at Moxis, who just shrugged back.

"It happens. Anyway. You have somewhere to get to. Or more accurately, somewhen. I want a pay rise after this."

"Sure. I'll remember that." Ganon smirked, knowing that he wouldn't remember any of these events later. At least, he wasn't expecting to.

"No you won't. That's the nature of paradoxes." Moxis said. Everyone else looked at the pair strangely, before all fainting at once. Ganon looked over at them before looking straight back at the pendant in his hand. He looked back at Moxis before drawing the energy out of it. Ganon watched as the scene around him froze, before it slowly began sliding backwards through time. The reversal picked up before finally becoming a swirling whirl of colour around him, making him dizzy. The swirling mists began to form recognisable shapes, before eventually stopping again at the Secret Garden of Altomare a week earlier. He put the pendant around his neck, and quickly took flight again as a Latios, flying over to the PokeCentre where he had been staying. He looked in through one window to see a less worn out Ganon writing something up on the desk, whilst Moxis the Riolu was lying back on the bed talking to someone through a headset. The Sneasel was sitting on the top bunk, watching Past Ganon. Ganon hovered outside the window invisible as time resumed flowing again.

"And the weather is brilliant. Why couldn't you come too Ally?" Moxis was speaking into the headset. That would have been him talking to Alicia again, "Come on. You could just forget the diode and catch a pod here with me..."

"Hey Mox. I'm off to get some Ice-Cream for Narunia and I. Do you want any?" Past Ganon asked.

"Pardon?"

"Ice-Cream. You. Do you want any?" Past Ganon said. It took all of Ganon's sense to refrain from head butting the wall. He made himself sound like an idiot.

"Oh right. No thanks. They all taste the same to me." Moxis said, sitting up. Ganon almost head butted the wall again. Steel types were never fazed by anything cold. Past Ganon shrugged.

"Whatever. Come on Narunia." Past Ganon said, holding out an arm for her to jump onto.

"I'm not a Carrier Pidgey." She said, before climbing down and jumping onto Ganon's back.

"Okay. Mox, I'll be back in about ten minutes. Ciao."

"Ciao." Moxis said half-heartedly before continuing his conversation with Alicia. Ganon waited until he saw Past Ganon walk out of the PokeCentre before landing on the balcony and transforming back into his human form. Moxis looked up at the disruption from the bed.

"I'll get back to you later Ally." Moxis said into the headset, folding the microphone back up and jumping off the bed.

"That was a lot less than ten minutes Ganon. Or should I say IMPOSTER!" The Riolu yelled, before lunging at him. Ganon sighed and picked Moxis up with his psychic powers, earning a yelp from him.

"I think that proves pretty conclusively that I'm not X, Moxis. As a half DARK type, he can't do that."

"Well excuse me for not believing you, but you aren't Ganon. Your auras screwed up." Moxis complained. Ganon put him down.

"Well that may be the case, but you sent me back to ask you to make the energy signature on the Resurrection more specific."

"Why?"

"Moxis, I've only got about eight minutes now until I come back, so I don't have time. Just make the change." Ganon said, picking the device up and hauling it over to Moxis, along with a toolbox. Moxis looked over at Ganon sceptically.

"If you really were a paradox, you'd have disappeared by now." Ganon folded his arms over, tapping his foot on the floor.

"Chances are, I won't disappear until you've actually made it specific. So get on with it." Moxis took off the cover and twisted a series of dials around, before snapping the cover back on.

"There. Sorted. Now explain why you haven't disappeared." Moxis asked, looking triumphant. Ganon looked down at his legs. He tapped one, and it was still solid.

"Erm..."

"See! You are an impostor!" Moxis yelled. Ganon waved his arms for the Riolu to calm down.

"No. That can't have changed the future. Hmmm..." Ganon turned around to face the window again, the pendant clinking on it's chain. He looked down at it, and came up with a new plan, "Moxis."

"What is it now faker?" Moxis said sarcastically. Ganon scowled.

"Don't call me faker. I'm going to change the nature of the Paradox. Take a close look at this pendant. It is the Missingno pendant. X has it, and in just under a week, you'll need to get it off him. Take a close look. Aura readings and all." He said, handing the pendant to Moxis. The Riolu held it up to the light, his eyes widening as he analysed it.

"Holy sh-... How on earth did X get his hands on this?!" Moxis asked.

"I don't know. Just wipe the last hour of my memory. Make it permanent, there's things in it I never want to recall ever again." Ganon asked. Moxis looked up at his friend from the future, and obeyed. Ganon looked back down at his legs, and was much more relieved to find them dissolving into nothingness. Moxis looked at them too.

"Well, I think this proves I wasn't a faker." Ganon said, moments before he vanished completely. Moxis stared wide-eyed at Ganon, before looking back down at the pendant, which had dissolved along with Ganon. The Riolu's jaw dropped as Past Ganon walked back in through the door with Narunia, each of them eating an ice-cream.

"What is it Mox? You look like you've just seen a ghost."

"M... M..."

"Huh?"

"M-maybe I have." The Riolu finally stammered out.

* * *

"Alone in the eternal darkness, the bright blossoms shall wither. The world ends not with a bang..." 

"But with a shiver and a whimper." Shouted Moxis from behind the demons back. It spun around snarling as the Anubis ran up to him, and leapt up his musculature onto the edge of his shoulder. X scrabbled at his back, trying to pull the dog off. It rode him like a rodeo rider, his helmet flying off from the force of the swinging. Lucario grabbed onto X's hair and held on for dear life as the beast continued to thrash. He looked down at X's neck, noticing the thin black chain around it.

"The Missingno Pendant." Moxis gasped, shifting his aim down slightly. He stabbed down into the vile brute's neck with his spear, piercing through the chain, grabbing hold of one of the severed ends before it fell off completely. The demon let out a loud barking grunt and its eyes bulged. It keeled over onto it's front, thudding heavily on the invisible floor. Moxis pulled the Pendant out from underneath him, stuffing it into a pocket in his sash.

* * *

The shadow taint burnt out in the device as the Sneasel's soul was obliterated, and the ball flashed a brilliant white, scorching the retinas of the humans watching it. None of them could see what was happening as Ganon's form suddenly sparked. Light flowed across the surface of the shape, until it coated the entire structure. A pulse of blue radiated through the body, as Ganon stepped out of the shower of sparks. Everyone else stood there dumbstruck. The sheer shock of seeing him resurrected was enough to paralyse them. They'd all given up on him. They stared at him with wide eyes and open mouths. It was as though he had never left. 

"What are you staring at?" Ganon looked around behind him, "There's nothing out of the ordinary over here..."

"Besides you of course just appearing like that."

"Well, Lorenzo, there's the proof that a Soul Dew do not contain the soul of a Latios." He said smirking at him. Lorenzo sighed, and smiled grudgingly back at him.

"We thought you were dead." Bianca cried. Ganon suddenly swung his head back, eyes rolling back in his head as though someone had thrown a rock at his head. The two timelines were converging, fusing the two variables that had caused it. Ganon's memory was suddenly restored from the broken future, minus the part that Moxis the Riolu had wiped out.

"Gotta go!" Ganon cried out, as he leapt into the air, transforming at its peak. He flew straight out into the sea in search of Laura. No time to waste on idle chat.

"Ganon! Wait!" Moxis cried out suddenly but it was too late.

"Stupid boy." Moxis wandered off, mumbling something about doom, crystals and coffee. He took out the pendant from the pocket in his sash, tossing it in his paw before putting it back in the pocket. Who said there was no joy in being an archaeologist?

* * *

Whilst last time it had been easier to find Laura because of the evil tendril pointing straight at her, it was now much harder because of having no landmarks to go by. He searched desperately for Laura amongst the rolling waves, tears beginning to form as he searched for her with absolutely no sign that she was still alive. After a few minutes, he found her. She was lying in the water unconscious, almost totally underwater with only her nose sticking out. It was a miracle he had even found her. 

_C'mon. We've been through too much together for you to give up now. _He thought to himself.

He picked her up out of the water, and flew her to the island of their manor house which had been destroyed by the wave. He knew that was the safest place to revive her. He laid her down on a bed of sand at the edge of the rocky outpost. He nudged her side, and got no response. He looked at her chest, and noticed that she wasn't breathing.

_Deja vu._

He rolled her onto her side, and struck her back hard. She immediately began coughing up water. He moved back slightly, knowing that Einar was due to arrive any second now.

"Hey you. You next to the dying girl." Einar yelled from behind him. Ganon scowled and got up.

"Shut up Einar, and listen to me. As effectively his parent, I order you not to execute Benevuto, the red Latios. You _will_ take him out of the nursery now, and deliver him safely to Cemusem Village. Go to the PokeCentre, and ask for Melissa. Tell her that Ganon says he's sorry for not calling her last night, he was dead. However he's better now, and it worked fine." Ganon said non-stop to the visitor. Einar looked at him in confusion.

"What the hell? How did you know that?" The Eon asked.

"Einar. Shut up. Do it now. Teleport back and carry out my instruction, otherwise..." Ganon uprooted a tree remaining on the island, holding it above Einar's head, "I'll bury your putrid face into the floor."

The green Eon gulped and teleported back to carry out Ganon's instructions as Ganon turned back to wait just behind Laura. She continued to splutter for several minutes, whilst Ganon just had to sit and wait, minutes stretching into hours in his mind.

* * *

Eventually she was able to open her eyes. She looked around her briefly and was surprised to find herself on the manor island. 

"How did I get here?" She asked to no-one in particular. She expected a rogue wave to have driven her ashore.

"I brought you here." Someone said. She recognised the voice immediately, and turned around to face the source. There, lying against an outcrop of rock, was Ganon, poking the ground with a stick.

She got up and immediately flew over to him, absolutely overcome with joy at seeing him again. She nuzzled his face, and he nuzzled her back. They were together again. That was all that mattered to her.

"It was so lonely without you. I was so scared." She sobbed at him.

"Hush now, darling, I'm back… Everything is okay now." He cooed at her, whilst stroking her back softly. She sobbed even harder.

"You were dead last night." She wailed at him, collapsing against his chest. He laughed slightly and she looked up at him. He looked at her with a rather amused look on his face, which she couldn't really understand, but for some reason, seeing him smiling cheered her up immensely.

"So were you, if I remember correctly."

She gave him a sly look and punched his arm softly.

"Hey! That's not fair! I never rubbed your face in it when you were dead."

"Of course not, I was dead."

She laughed at him. He made the strangest jokes, but at least they both shared that. Sometimes her own jokes were just as bizarre.

"But you're here now. We never need to be lonely again."

"Never again." He promised her, as they cuddled together to watch the rolling waves.

* * *

Laura sighed against Ganon's shoulder as she watched the tide come up. But this was really boring. 

"Why are we watching the waves Ganon?"

"I don't actually know. They're really boring. The only thing going for them is that it's romantic. Why?" He said, before catching the look in her eye, "Oh!" He said, smiling back at her.

She got up, and beckoned Ganon to the waters edge. He followed her into the water, and they began to swim together. Laura shrieked as Ganon splashed her from behind. She looked at him and saw him grinning at her before he splashed her again. She smiled and splashed him back, laughing as he squealed when the cold water hit him.

"I really do hope the kids don't see us behaving like this. We're supposed to be the responsible ones." She joked with him as she splashed him. He smiled broadly and splashed her back with both claws.

"Would it really matter?" he laughed back as he dodged another splash. He flew up into the air above her, and looked down.

"Cannonball!" He shouted and dived down into the water next to her, absolutely covering her in the wave. She spluttered a bit, and then laughed again. She saw Ganon surface again about ten metres away. She began to fly low to the water with her feet trailing in it. She started flying around him in a tight circle, splashing him constantly. He grabbed her foot and dragged her back down into the water, laughing as she dragged him under with her. They swam around each other underwater, generally enjoying each others presence. By some act of fate, they ended up directly in front of each other, faces only a matter of inches apart. Laura blushed as Ganon leant towards her, and they shared a kiss underwater. They suddenly noticed that they had floated back to the surface, and that night had fallen.

"Uh oh..." Ganon said, "I was supposed to get us a room in the PokeCentre for tonight. They stopped taking reservations at ten PM, and we're too big to sleep in the garden."

"Well, darling, I have a better idea. Follow me." She said, beckoning him underwater with her. He caught the glint of her smirk in the moonlight, and smirked back.

"You really sure?"

She nodded and dived underwater. He followed suit. It was their secret little hidey hole. She led him up to a patch of stone that looked exactly like the rest of it. She smiled at him, and took his claw in her own, before touching the rock with their hands. A circle of rock glowed deep blue and faded out, leaving a wide passageway in the rock face underwater, which turned upwards and let to a special chamber that was inside. It was structured very much like a beaver's dam. It would have been safe from the force of the wave, as it was totally enclosed. All the furniture was still there, looking like an elegant master bedroom.

They settled together on the large bed. The glowing orbs that illuminated the room faded to a low level, increasing the ambiance. She pointed at a red candle next to the bed, and it ignited. Ganon whistled, impressed.

"Hot stuff." He said, pointing at a blue candle next to it. It immediately ignited as well. "Definitely hot stuff."

"Oh I do love you." She said gently, caressing his face with one claw. He bent down low to kiss her.

Lani stopped scrying them through the Soul Dew. She decided to give them some privacy.

* * *

Next morning, Ganon and Laura came back to the garden. Ash and his friends were already there, and were playing with Lani and Loki. They took on their human forms, and walked up to them, hand in hand. Bianca looked over to them, and when she noticed who they were, ran up and stopped them. 

"Can we be expecting the patter of little Latios feet anytime soon?" Bianca asked him, with a smirk.

"You know full well that Latios feet don't…Oh." Ganon blushed as he realised what Bianca was getting at. Laura beamed at him and clutched his arm tighter, looking up at him in adoration.

"What's the matter? Are you embarrassed?" Laura asked him teasingly. He blushed even harder, and began stuttering something.

"Oh, hello Ganon." Ash said as he saw them arrive. Ganon quickly turned to him, thankful for something to get him out of the awkward conversation with Bianca. The girls looked to each other and laughed slightly.

"Ah! Ash can you just get the others and sit on this bench?" He said, waving a camera. The camera was fake but the group couldn't tell.

"Yeah sure. Come on guys! Ganon's going to take our picture!" He called out to Brock and Misty. They turned around from Lani and Loki, running back over to sit on the bench besides Ash. However much to Ganon's dismay, the young Eons flew behind them to join the assumed photograph.

_Lani. Move._

Lani tilted her head slightly in confusion. Worry became more evident on Ganon's face.

_Lani. Please. I'm not taking there photo. I'm wiping their memory. It's part of my line of work._

Lani moved to try and get out of the way of the photo frame. Bianca walked up next to her though, hemming her in place.

"Latias, stay still." Bianca said smiling at the fake camera. Lani looked back down at the girl, then back at Ganon pleadingly. He put the camera down.

"Sorry guys, I can't take your photo. I've just realised the cameras broken."

"Well you can fix that can't you?" Misty asked. Ganon fumed silently, flashing a spark at the end of his finger to make it look as though it had done something. He smiled nervously.

"Err... Okay. It's fixed."

_Lani. Close your eyes as tight as you can._ She obeyed, and was unfortunately noticed by Bianca.

"Latias, open your eyes! What are you? Photophobic?"

"Actually, they are. So Lani and Loki please come around behind me please." Ganon said earnestly. Loki moved without hesitation, but Bianca was still holding Lani's claw, making it awkward for her to move. Lani looked pleadingly at Ganon.

"Bianca! Can't you see she's uncomfortable?"

"What's the problem? She's never had any problems with having her photo taken with me before." Bianca said. Ganon looked up at the Latios next to him.

_Loki?_

The Eon nodded, and without waiting for what Ganon was about to say, he flew over, picking Bianca up and dropping her in a pond. Lani quickly flew up over Ash's group, landing behind Ganon. He nodded at her quickly before getting into position.

"What the-" Ash began as a burst of blue light flared from Ganon's fingertips. The group slumped to the ground awkwardly as the flash faded out. Lani turned around to face Ganon as he put away the fake camera.

"What did you do to them?!" She squealed at him. Ganon walked over, gently stroking her side.

"Nothing much. They've met me before, and each time I've had to wipe their memories of me. It's very specific, so they'll remember everything that has happened the last few days, it's just I won't be there in any of them. And as I can tell from Ash, his most prominent memory is of you, so that's still untouched." He said calmly. Lani blushed deeply.

"You mean he likes me?"

"Likes?! I have no doubt that he loves you. Just as much as you love him." Ganon said, watching as Lani's blush spread.

"But a human-Pokemon relationship can't work. Can it?" Lani asked, a twinkle of hope evident in her eyes. Ganon nodded and she squealed in delight, flying around the unconscious group. Loki held a claw in front of his mouth and mimicked retching. Unnoticed by either of them, Ganon and Laura slipped away from the garden, and began flying away from Altomare. Bianca climbed out of the pool, still dripping wet.

"Latios! Why did you do that?!" She bellowed at the Eon. Loki looked around, blushing slightly. Unfortunately for him, Lani noticed.

"Aw. Has 'ickle Loki-kins got a crush on Bianca?" Lani teased, earning a loathing look from Loki.

"Shut up!" He squeaked at Lani. She held a claw to her face and mimicked Loki's mimic of retching.

* * *

Later that day, Ash and his friends had begun to make their journey back to the mainland. He noticed Lorenzo was walking outside his workshop with a pile of wood, and asked the driver to stop. He called over to Lorenzo. 

"Thanks for everything."

"Oh, you're leaving already?"

"Yeah."

"Hold on. Bianca was going to the market, but she may still be here."

He looked up to Bianca's room and shouted.

"Bianca! Your friends are leaving! Bianca."

Lani heard the shouts and quickly finished off the portrait she had done. She was proud of her handiwork, and couldn't wait to give it to Ash.

Lorenzo turned back to Ash.

"Oh, I'm afraid you just missed her."

"Well… tell her we said thanks, and goodbye."

"Yeah, we had a really great time." Brock added.

"Okay, well, come back and see us."

"We will. See you later."

Lani squealed as she heard the outboard motor of the boat outside start up, and she ran out of the house and down the streets. She just _had_ to see Ash again. She waved the rolled up picture at their boat as she crossed a bridge. Pikachu noticed her, and alerted Ash. She could see that the boat was slowing down, and continued to run through the streets, towards the dock at the end of the canal. She saw that Ash had stepped out of the boat to talk to her, and she was overjoyed.

She ran up to him, and panted briefly before offering him the rolled up picture. He was confused, but she nodded and held it out for him more. He realised she wanted him to take it. Now that his hands were full, he couldn't resist against her next gesture. She leaned forwards and kissed him on the cheek. It was a bit of subterfuge, trapping him like that, but it got the point across. She could hear Brock fall over as he lost concentration on the rocking boat, but that was just another noise. The taste of his skin against her lips was divine, and she couldn't bear thinking about what his lips would taste like. But she wasn't that desperate. Ganon told her he would be back, and she believed him. She could wait. She pulled away from the kiss, and looked into his face. She saw surprise, but no anger or denial. Their gazes were locked on each others faces, her amber eyes and his brown eyes, locked in their depths. Although it pained her to do so, she turned around and ran back to the garden. She had done it. She had kissed Ash Ketchum.

"Hey!" He called out after her, but it was too late, she was gone.

"Err… Bye."

Ash unrolled the picture, and smiled when he saw who it was of. It was a picture of himself holding his hand up to stroke the Pikachu chuckling on his shoulder, and someone else lurking in the background, peering out from the other side with a knowing smile, his arms crossed over his chest as he leaned against an invisible wall.

"Hey you guys? Who's this guy Latias has drawn me with?" Ash asked Brock and Misty.

"I dunno." Misty said.

"Um... I don't know either." Brock lied. Thanks to his Japanese descendance, his naturally closed eyes had prevented Ganon's memory flash from affecting him. He looked back down at the pokeball with the Ditto in it, and smiled knowingly at it. Obviously Ganon didn't want them remembering him, so he wouldn't go against his wishes since he'd given him his best chance of becoming a Pokemon breeder yet.

* * *

I've finished this one! Was it a good enough ending? I kind of fell asleep looking for something better, so this is the best I can do for now. For Swack16, I hope you liked your cameo in this. For KotorPlayerTheVII, I think you'll have noticed the tendril connection, and the Lampshade quote. There was something else too, but I'm not reading through again to find out what. 

Yes, Ganon does leave Altomare. He doesn't actually live there. I was considering having Ganon erase Lani and Loki's memories of him too, but that would be unnecessarily cruel, and I love Latias's too much to do something like that. Anyone who thinks the time thing is a bit too typical of a story like this, tough. I was also considering having Ganon threaten to kill Benevuto to blackmail X. I even had a few good lines for it, but that would have sent this up to an M. At least now those preconceptions about X should be slightly dissolved.

And another question which shall become apparant later in SitN. Shall I make Ganon play a Flute, Clarinet or an Ocarina? Put that choice in a review of SitN though so I can see who's actually read this as I warned. Just put the word at the end, not a full sentance justifying it. PM me if you have to justify it.

And now the link between SitN and this is undeniable!


End file.
